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V 



ACADIA; 



OE- 



A MONTH WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 



BY 



FREDERIC S. COZZENS, 

AUTHOR OF "SPARROWGRASS PAPERS.' 



This is Arcadia — this the land 
That weary souls have sighed for ; 
This is Arcadia — this the land 
Heroic liearts have died for : 
Yet, strauge to tell, this promised land 
Has never been applied for I 

Porter. 




NEW YORK : 

DERBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU STREET. 

1859. 




Entbred according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

FREDERIC S. COZZENS, 

In tie Clerk's Office of tho District Court of the United States for the Southern District of 

2<ew Yi.rk. 



/ 



<\ 






W. H. TiNsos, Stereotyper. Gko. Klssell & Co., Printers. 



PKEFACE. 



As I have a sort of religion in literature, believing 
that no author can justly intrude upon the public 
without feeling that his writings may be of some 
benefit to mankind, I beg leave to apologize for this 
little book. I know, no critic can tell me better than 
I know myself, how much it falls short of what 
might have been done by an abler pen. Yet it is 
something — an index, I should say, to something 
better. The French in America may sometime 
find a champion. For my own part, I would that 
the gentler principles which governed them, and 
the English under William Penn, and the Dutch 
under the enlightened rule of the States General, 
had obtained here, instead of the narrower, the more 
penurious, and most proscriptive policy of their 
neighbors. 

I am indebted to judge Haliburton's " History of 
Nova Scotia" for the main body of historical facts in 
this volume. Let me acknowledge my obligations. 
His researches and impartiality are most creditable, 
and worthy of respect and attention. I have also 
drawn as liberally as time and space would permit 



IV PREFACE. 

from chronicles contemporary with the events of 
those early days, as well as from a curious collection 
of items relating to the subject, cut from the London 
newspapers a hundred years ago, and kindly fur- 
nished me by Geo. P. Putnam, Esq. These are 
always the surest guides. Ta Mrs. Kate Williams, 
of Providence, R. I., I am indebted also. Her story 
of the "Neutral French," no doubt, inspired the 
author of the most beautiful pastoral in the lan- 
guage. The " Evangeline " of Longfellow, and 
the " Pauline" of this lady's legend, are pictures 
of the same individual, only drawn by different 
hands. 

A word in regard to the two Acadian portraits. 
These are literal ambrotypes, to which Sarony has 
added a few touches of his artistic crayon. It may 
interest the reader to know that these are the first, 
the only likenesses of the real Evangelines of Aca- 
dia. The women of Chezzetcook appear at day- 
break in the city of Halifax, and as soon as the sun 
is up vanish like the dew. They have usually a 
basket of fresh eggs, a brace or two of worsted socks, 
a bottle of fir-balsam to sell. These comprise their 
simple commerce. When the market-bell rings you 
find them not. To catch such fleeting phantoms, 
and to transfer them to the frontispiece of a book 
published here, is like painting the burnished wings 
of a humming-bird. A friend, however, undertook 
the task. He rose before the sun, he bought eggs, 
worsted socks, and fir-balsam of the Acadians. By 
constant attentions he became acquainted with a 



PREFACE. V 

pair of Acadian women, niece and aunt. Tlien he 
proposed the matter to them : 

" I want you to go with me to the daguerreotype 
gallery," 

"What for r 

" To have your portraits taken." 

"What for?" 

" To send to a friend in ISTew York." 

"What for?" 

" To be put in a book." 

"What for?" 

" Never mind ' what for,' will you go ?" 

Aunt and niece — both together in a breath — 
"ISTo." 

So my friend, who was a wise man, wrote to the 
priest of the settlement of Chezzetcook, to explain 
the " what for," and the consequence was — these 
portraits ! But these women had a terrible time at 
the head of the first flight of stairs. ]^ot an inch 
would these shy creatures budge beyond. At last, 
the wife of the operator induced them to rise to the 
high flight that led to the Halifax skylight, and 
there they were painted by the sun, as we see them 
now. 

Nothing more! King the bell, prompter, and 
draw the curtain. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Vague Rumors of Nova Scotia — A Fortnight upon Salt Water-— 
Interesting Sketch of the Atlantic — Halifax ! — Determine to stay 
in the Province — Province Building and Pictures — Coast Scenery 
— Liberty in Language, and Aspirations of the People — Evange- 
line and Relics of Acadia — Market-Place — The Encampment at 
Point Pleasant — Kissing Bridge — The "Himalaya" — A Sabbath 
in a Garrison Town — Grand Celebration of the Peace, and Natal 
Day of Halifax — And a Hint of a Visit to Chezzetcook 13 

CHAPTER II. 

Fog clears up — The One Idea not comprehended by the American 
Mind — A June Morning in the Province — The Beginning of the 
Evangeliad — Intuitive Perception of Genius — The Forest Prime- 
val — Acadian Peasants — A Negro Settlement — Deer's Castle — 
The Road to Chezzetcook — Acadian Scenery — A Glance at the 
Early History of Acadia — First Encroachments of the English — 
The Harbor and Village of Chezzetcook, etc., etc 84 

CHAPTER III. 

A Romp at Three Fathom Harbor — The Moral Condition of the 
Acadians — The Wild Flowers of Nova Scotia — Mrs. Deer's Wit — 

7 



viu CONTENTS. 

No Fish — Picton — The Balaklava Schooner — And a Voyage to 
Louisburg , 58 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Voyage of the "Balaklava" — Something of a Fog — ^A Novel 
Sensation — Picton bursts out — "Nothing to do" — Breakfast 
under Way — ^A Phantom Boat — Mackerel — Gone, Hook and 
Line — The Colonists — Sectionalism and Prejudices — Cod-fishing 
and an Unexpected Banquet — Past the old French Town — ^A 
Pretty Respectable Breeze — ^We get past the Rocks — Louis- 
burg 11 

CHAPTER V. 

Louisburgh — The Great French Fortress — Incidents of the Old 
French War— ^Relics of the Siege — Description of the Town — 
The two Expeditions — A Yankee ruse de guerre — The Rev. 
Samuel Moody's Grace — Wolfe's Landing — The Fisherman's 
Hutch — The Lost Coaster — The Fisheries — ^Picton tries his hand 
at a Fish-pugh 102 

CHAPTER VI. 

A most acceptable Invitation — An Evening in the Hutch — Old 
Songs — Picton in High Feather — Wolfe and Montcalm — Reminis- 
cences of the Siege — Anecdotes of Wolfe — A Touch of Rhetoric 
and its Consequences 121 

CHAPTER VII. 

The other side of the Harbor — A Foraging Party — Disappointment 
— Twihght at Louisburgh — Long Days and Early Mornings — A 
Visit and View of an Interior — A Shark Story — Picton inquires 
about a Measure — HospitaHty and the Two Brave Boys — ^Pro- 
posals for a Trip Overland to Sydney 133 



CONTENTS. IX 



CHAPTER VIII. 



A Blue-Nosed Pair of the most Cerulean Hue — Prospects of a Hard 
Bargain — Case of Necessity — Romantic Lake with an Unromantic 
Name — The Discussion concerning Oatmeal — Danger of the 
Gasterophili — McGibbet makes a Proposition — Farewell to the 
"Balaklava" — A Midnight Journey — Sydney — Boat Excursion 
to the Micmacs — ^Picton takes off his Mackintosh 154 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Micmac Camp — Indian Church-warden and Broker — Interior 
of a Wigwam — A Madonna — A Digression — Malcolm Discharged 
— An Indian Bargain — The Inn Parlor, and a Comfortable 
Night's Rest 1*76 

CHAPTER X. 

Over the Bay — A Gigantic Dumb Waiter — Erebus — Reflections — 
White and Black Squares of the Chess-Board — Leave-taking — 
An Interruption — The Aibstract Preencipels of Feenance. . 185 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Bras d'Or Road — ^Farewell to Picton — Home, Sweet Home — 
The Rob Roys of Cape Breton — Note and Query — Chapel Island 
— St. Peter's — Enterprise — The Strait of Canseau — West River — 
The Last Out-post of the Scottish Chiefs 196 

CHAPTER XIL 

The Ride from West River — A Fellow Passenger — Parallels of His- 
tory — One Hundred Romances — Baron de Castine — His Character 
— Made Chief of the Abenaquis — Duke of York's Charter — 
Encroachments of the Puritans — Church's Indian Wars — False 

Reports — Reflections 212 

1* 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Truro — On the Road to Halifax — Drive to the Left — A Member of 
the Foreign Legion — Irish "Wit at Government Expense — The 
first Battle of the Legion — Ten Pounds Reward — Sir John Gas- 
pard's Revenge — The Shubenacadie Lakes — Dartmouth Ferry, 
and the Hotel Waverley 224 

CHAPTER XrV. 

Halifax again — Hotel Waverley — " Gone the Old Familiar Faces " — 
The Story of Marie de la Tour 23*7 

CHAPTER XV. 

Bedford Basin — ^Legend of the two French Admirals — ^An Invita- 
tion to the Queen — Visit to the Prince's Lodge — A Touch of Old 
England— The Ruins 251 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Last Night — Farewell, Hotel Waverley — Friends Old and New — 
What followed the Marriage of La Tour le Borgne — Invasion 
of Col. Church 258 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A few more Threads of History — Acadia again lost — The Oath of 
Allegiance — Settlement of Halifax — The brave Three Hundred — 
Massacre at Norridgewoack — Le Pere Ralle 269 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

On the road to Windsor — The great Nova Scotia Railway — A Fellow 
Passenger — Cape Sable Shipwrecks — Seals — Ponies — Windsor — 
Sam Slick — A lively Example 279 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Windsor-upon-Avon — Ride to the Gasperau — The Basin of Minas — 



CONTENTS. XI 

Blomidon — This is the Acadian Land — Basil, the Blacksmith — A 
Yankee Settlement — Useless Reflections 293 

CHAPTER XX. 

The "Valley of Acadia— A Morning Ride to the Dykes — An unex- 
pected Wild-duck Chase — High Tides — The Gasperau — Sunset — 
The Lamp of History — Conclusion 302 

Appendix 317 



ACADIA. 



CHAPTEE I. 

Vague Rumors of Nova- Scotia — A Fortnight upon Salt Water — 
Interesting Sketch of the Atlantic — Halifax ! — Determine to stay 
in the Province — Province Building and Pictures — Coast Scenery 
— Liberty in Language, and Aspirations of the People — Evange- 
line and Relics of Acadia — Market-PIace — The Encampment at 
Point Pleasant — Kissing Bridge — The "Himalaya" — A Sabbath 
in a Garrison Town — Grand Celebration of the Peace, and Natal 
Day of Halifax — And a Hint of a Visit to Chezzetcook. 

It is pleasant to visit l^ova Scotia in the month 
of June. Pack np your flannels and your fishing 
tackle, leave behind you your prejudices and your 
summer clothing, take your trout-pole in one hand 
and a copy of Haliburton in the other, and step on 
board a Cunarder at Boston. In thirty-six hours 
you are in the loyal little province, and above you 
floats the red flag and the cross of St. George. My 
word for it, you will not regret the trip. 

18 



14: ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

That the idea of visiting ITova Scotia ever struck 
any living person as something peculiarly pleasant 
and cheerful, is not within the bounds of proba- 
bility. Yery rude people are wont to speak of 
Halifax in connection with the name of a place 
never alluded to in polite society — except by 
clergymen. As for the rest of the Province, 
there are certain vague rumors of extensive and 
constant fogs, but nothing more. The land is a 
sort of terra incognita. Many take it to be a part 
of Canada, and others firmly believe it is some- 
where in ]N^ewfoundland. 

In justice to l^ova Scotia, it is proper to state 
that the Province is a province by itself ; that , it 
hath its own governor and parliament, and its own 
proper and copper currency. How I chanced to go 
there was altogether a matter of destiny. It was a 
severe illness — a gastric disorder of the most obsti- 
nate kind, that cast me upon its balmy shores. One 
day, after a protracted relapse, as I was creep- 
ing feebly along Broadway, sunning myself, like a 
March fly on a window-pane, whom should I meet 
but St. Leger, my friend. " You look pale," said 
St. Leger. To which I replied by giving him a 
full, complete, and accurate history of my ailments, 
after the manner of valetudinarians. " Why do you 
not try change of air?" he asked ; and then briskly 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 15 

added, " You could spare a couple of weeks or so, 
could you not, to go to the Springs ?" " I could," 
said I, feebly. " Then," said St. Leger, " take tlie 
two weeks' time, but do not go to the Springs. 
Spend your fortnight on the salt water — get out of 
sight of land — that is the thing for you." And so, 
shaking my hand warmly, St. Leger passed on, and 
left me to my reflections. 

A fortnight upon salt water ? Whither ? Cape 
Cod at once loomed up ; ISTantucket, and Martha's 
Yineyard. " And why not the Bermudas ?" said a 
voice within me ; " the enchanted Islands of Pros- 
pero, and Ariel, and Miranda ; of Shakspeare, and 
Raleigh, and Irving ?" And echo answered : "Why 
not ?" 

It is but a day-and-a-half 's sail to Halifax ; 
thence, by a steamer, to those neighboring isles ; 
for the Curlew and the ^Merlin, British mail-boats, 
leave Halifax fortnightly for the Bermudas. A 
thousand miles of life-invigorating atmosphere — a 
week upon salt water, and you are amid the mag- 
nificent scenery of the Tempest ! And how often 
had the vague desire impressed me — how often, 
indeed, had I visited, in imagination, those beauti- 
ful scenes, those islands which have made Shaks- 
peare our near kinsman ; which are part and parcel 
of the romantic history of Sir Walter Raleigh ! 



16 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

For, even if lie do describe them, in liis strong old 
Saxon, as " the BermndaSj a hellish sea for Thun- 
der, and Lightning, and Storms," yet there is a 
charm even in this description, for doubtless these 
very words gave a title to the great drama of Wil- 
liam of Stratford, and suggested the idea of 

" The still-vexed Bermoothes." 

Ah, yes! and who that has read Irving's "Three 
Elngs of Bermuda " has not felt the influence of 
those Mas Encantadas — ^those islands of palms 
and coral, of orange groves and ambergris ! " A 
fortnight ?" said I, quoting St. Leger ; " I will take 
a month for it." And so, in less than a week from 
the date of his little prescription, I was bidding 
farewell to some dear friends, from the deck of the 
" Canada," at East Boston wharf, as Captain Lang, 
on the top of our wheel-house, shouted out, in a 
very briny voice : " Let go the starboard bow chain 
— go slow !" 

It would be presumptuous in me to speak of the 
Atlantic, from the limited acquaintance I had with 
it. The note-book of an invalid for two days at sea, 
with a heavy ground swell, and the wind in the 
most favorable quarter, can scarcely be attractive. 
As the breeze freshened, and the tars of old Eng- 
land ran aloft, to strip from the black sails the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. IT 

wrappers of white canvas that had hid them when 
in port; and as these leathern, bat-like pinions 
spread out on each side of the funnel, there was a 
moment's glimpse of the picturesque ; but it was a 
glimpse only, and no more. One does not enjoj 
tlie rise and dip of the bow of a steamer, at first, 
however graceful it may be in the abstract. To be 
sure, there were some things else interesting. For 
instance, three brides aboard ! And one of them 
lovely enough to awaken interest, on sea or land, in 
any body but a Halifax passenger. I hope those 
fair ladies will have a pleasant tour, one and all, 
and that the view they take of the great world, so 
early in life, will make them more contented with 
that minor world, henceforth to be within the limits 
of theiV dominion. Lullaby to the young wives ! 
there will be rocking enough anon ! 

But we coasted along pleasantly enough the 
next day, within sight of the bold headlands of 
Maine ; the sky and sea clear of vapor, except the 
long reek from the steamer's pipe. And then came 
nightfall and the northern stars ; and, later at night, 
a new luminary on the edge of the horizon — Sam- 
bro' light ; and then a sudden quenching of stars, 
and horizon, lighthouse, ropes, spars, and smoke 
stack; the sounds of hoarse voices of command in 
the obscurity; a trampling of men; and then down 



18 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

went the anclior in the ooze, and the Canada was 
fog-bound in the old harbor of Chebucto for the 
night, within a few miles of the city. 

But with the early dawn, we awoke to hear the 
welcome sounds of the engines in motion, and when 
we reached the deck, the mist was drifted with 
sunlight, and rose and fell in luminous billows on 
water and shore, and then lifted, lingered, and 
vanished ! 

"And this is Halifax?" said I, as that quaint, 
mouldy old town poked its wooden gables through 
the fog of the second morning. " This is Halifax ? 
This the capital of ISTova Scotia? This the city 
that harbored those loyal heroes of the Revolution, 
who gallantly and gayly fought, and bled, and ran 
for their king ? Ah ! you brave old Tories ; you 
staunch upholders of the crown ; cavaliers without 
ringlets or feathers, russet boots or steeple-crown 
hats, it seems as if you were still hovering over this 
venerable tabernacle of seven hundred gables, and 
wreathing each particular ridge-pole, pigeon-hole, 
and shingle with a halo of fog. 

The plank was laid, and the passengers left the 
steamer. There were a few vehicles on the wharf 
for the accommodation of strangers ; square, black, 
funereal-like, wheeled sarcophagi, eminently sug- 
gestive of burials and crape. Of course I did not 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 19 

ride in one, on account of unpleasant associations ; 
bnt, placing my trunk in charge of a cart-boy with 
a long-tailed dray, and a diminutive pony, I walked 
through the silent streets towards "The Waverley." 

It was an inspiriting morning, that which I met 
upon the well-docked shores of Halifax, and al- 
though the side-walks of the city were neither 
bricked nor paved with flags, and the middle street 
was in its original and aboriginal clay, yet there was 
novelty in making its acquaintance. Everybody 
was asleep in that early fog ; and when everybody 
woke up, it was done so quietly that the change 
was scarcely apparent. 

But the "Merlin," British mailer, is to sail at 
noon for the Shakspeare Island, and breakfast must 
be discussed, and then once more I am with you, 
my anti-bilious ocean. It chanced, however, I 
heard at breakfast, that the " Curlew," the mate of 
the " Merlin," had been lost a short time before at 
sea, and as there was but one, and not two steamers 
on the route, so that I would be detained longer 
with Prospero and Mu-anda than might be comfort- 
able in the approaching hot weather, it came to 
pass that I had reluctantly to forego the projected 
voyage, and anchor my trunk of tropical clothing 
in room Number Twenty, Hotel Waverley. It was 
a great disappointment, to be sure, after such bril- 



20 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

liant anticipations — but wliat is life without pliilo- 
sopliy ? "When we cannot get what we wish, let us 
take what we may. Let the " Merlin " sail ! I 
will visit, instead of those Mas Encantadas, " The 
Acadian land on the shore of the Basin of Minas." 
Let the " Merlin " sail ! I will see the ruined walls 
of Louisburgh, and the harbors that once sheltered 
the Yenetian sailor, Cabot. " Let her sail !" said I, 
and when the morn passed I saw her slender thread 
of smoke far off on the glassy ocean, without a sigh 
of regret, and resolutely turned my face from the 
promised palms to welcome the sturdy pines of the 
province. 

The city hill of Halifax rises proudly from its 
wharves and shipping in a multitude of mouse- 
colored wooden houses, until it is crowned by the 
citadel. As it is a garrison town, as well as a naval 
station, you meet in the streets red-coats and blue- 
jackets without number; yonder, with a brilliant 
staff, rides the Governor, Sir John G-aspard le Mar- 
chant, and here, in a carriage, is Admiral Fan- 
shawe, C.B., of the " Boscawen " Flag-ship. Every 
thing is suggestive of impending hostilities ; war, in 
burnished trappings, encounters you at the street 
corners, and the air vibrates from time to time with 
bugles, fifes, and drums. But oh ! what a slow 
place it is! Even two Crimean regiments with 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 21 

medals and decorations could not wake it up. The 
little old houses seem to look with wondrous apathy 
as these pass bj, as though they had given each 
other a quiet nudge with their quaint old gables, and 
whispered : '' Keep still !" 

T wandered up and down those old streets in 
search of something picturesque, but in vain ; there 
was scarcely any thing remarkable to arrest or inter- 
est a stranger. Such, too, might have been the 
appearance of other places I wot of, if those staunch 
old loyalists had had their way in the days gone by ! 

But the Province House, which is built of a sort 
of yellow sand-stone, with pillars in front, and trees 
around it, is a well-proportioned building,, with an 
air of great solidity and respectability. There are 
in it very fine full-lengths of King George IT. and 
Queen Caroline, and two full-lengths of King 
George m. and Queen Charlotte; a full-length of 
Chief-Justice Haliburton, and another full-length, 
by Benjamin West, of another chief-justice, in a 
red robe and a formidable wig. Of these portraits, 
the two first-named are the most attractive ; there is 
something so gay and festive in the appearance of 
King George 11. and Queen Caroline, so courtly 
and spriglitly, so graceful and amiable, that one is 
tempted to exclaim: "Bless the painter! what a 
genius he had !" 



22 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

And now, after taking a look at Dalhonsie Col- 
lege with tlie parade in front, and the square town- 
clock, built by his graceless Highness the Duke of 
Kent, let ns climb Citadel Hill, and see the formid- 
able protector of town and harbor. Lively enough 
it is, this great stone fortress, with its soldiers, 
swarming in and out like bees, and the glimpses of 
country and harbor are surpassingly beautiful ; but 
just at the margin of this slope below us, is the 
street, and that dark fringe of tenements skirting 
the edge of this green glacis is, I fear me, filled 
with vicious inmates. Yonder, where the blackened 
ruins of three houses are visible, a sailor was killed 
and thrown out of a window not long since, and his 
shipmates burned the houses down in consequence ; 
there is something strikingly suggestive in looking 
upon this picture and on that. 

But if you cast your eyes over yonder mag- 
nificent bay, where vessels bearing flags of all 
nations are at anchor, and then let your vision 
sweep past and over the islands to the outlets 
beyond, where the quiet ocean lies, bordered with 
fog-banks that loom ominously at the boundary-line 
of the horizon, you will see a picture of marvellous 
beauty ; for the coast scenery here transcends our 
own sea-shores, both in color and outline. And 
behind us again stretch large green plains, dotted 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 23 

with cottages, and bounded with undulating hills, 
with now and then glimpses of blue water ; and as 
we walk down Citadel Hill, we feel half-reconciled 
to Halifax, its queer little streets, its quaint, mouldy 
old gables, its soldiers and sailors, its fogs, cabs, 
penny and half-penny tokens, and all its little, odd, 
outlandish peculiarities. Peace be with it ! after 
all, it has a quiet charm for an invalid ! 

The inhabitants of Halifax exhibit no trifling 
degree of freedom in language for a loyal people ; 
they call themselves " Halligonians." This title, 
however, is sometimes pronounced " 'AUigonians," 
by the more rigid, as a mark of respect to the 
old country. But innovation has been at work 
even here, for the majority of Her Majesty's sub- 
jects aspirate the letter H. Alas for innovation ! 
who knows to what results this trifling error may 
lead ? When Mirabeau went to the French court 
without buckles in his shoes, the barriers of etiquette 
were broken down, and the Swiss Guards fought in 
vain. 

There is one virtue in humanity peculiarly grate- 
ful to an invalid ; to him most valuable, by him 
most appreciated, namely, hospitality. And that 
the 'Alligopians are a kind and good people, abun- 
dant in hoj pitality, let me attest. One can scarcely 
visit a ci / occupied by those whose grandsires 



24: ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

would have liiing your rebel grandfatlicrs (if they 
had caught them), without some misgivings. But I 
found the old Tory blood of three Halifax genera- 
tions, yet warm and vital, happy to accept again a 
rebellious kinsnuin, a real live Yankee, in spite of 
Sam Slick and the Eevolution. 

Let us take a stroll through these quiet streets. 
This is the Province House with its Ionic porch, 
and within it are the halls of Parliament, and offices 
of irovernment. You see there is a red-coat with 
his sentry-box at either corner. Behind the house 
again are two other sentries on duty, all glittering 
with polished brass, and belted, gloved, and bayo- 
neted, in splendid style. Of what use are these 
satellites, except to watch the building and keep it 
from running away? On the street behind the 
Province House is Fuller's American Book-store, 
which we will step into, and now among these 
books, fresh from the teeming presses of the States, 
we feel once more at home. Fuller preserves his 
equanimity in spite of the blandishments of royalty, 
and once a year, on the Fourth of July, hoists the 
" stars and stripes," and bravely takes dinner with the 
United States Consul, in the midst of lions and uni- 
corns. Many pleasant hours I passed with Fuller, 
both in town and country. Near by, on the next 
corner, is the print-store of our old friends the Wet- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 25 

mores, and here one can see costly engravings of 
Landseer's fine pictures, and indeed whole port- 
folios of English art But oi, all the pictures there 
was one, the most touching, the most suggestive ! 
The presiding genius of the place, the unsceptred 
Queen of this little realm was before me — Faed's 
Evangeline ! And this reminded me that I was in 
the Acadian land! This reminded me of Lono-- 
fellow's beautiful pastoral, a poem that has spread 
a glory over E'ova Scotia, a romantic interest, 
which our own land has not yet inspired ! I 
knew that I was in Acadia; the historic scroll 
unrolled and stretched its long perspective to earlier 
days ; it recalled De Monts, and the la Tours ; Yice 
Admiral Destournelle, who ran upon his own sword, 
hard by, at Bedford Basin ; and the brave Baron 
Castine. 

The largest settlement of the Acadians is in the 
neighborhood of Halifax. In the early mornings, 
you sometimes see a few of these people in the 
streets, or at the market, selling a dozen or so of 
fresh eggs, or a pair or two of woollen socks, almost 
the only articles of their simple commerce. But 
you must needs be early to see them ; after eight 
o'clock, they will have all vanished. Chezzetcook, 
or, as it is pronounced by the 'Alligonians, '^ Chiz- 
zencook," is twenty-two miles from Halifax, and as 

2 



26 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

the Acadian peasant has neither horse nor mnlej he 
or she mnst be off betimes to reach home before 
mid-day nuncheon. J^ score of miles on foot is no 
trifle, in all weathers, bnt Gabriel and Evangeline 
perform it cheerfully ; and when the knitting-nee- 
dle and the poultry shall have replenished their 
slender stock, off again they will start on their mid- 
night pilgrimage, that they may reach the great 
city of Halifax before day-break. 

"We must see Chezzetcook anon, gentle reader. 

Let us visit the market-place. Here is Masa- 
iiiello, with his fish in great profusion. Codfish, 
three-pence or four-pence each ; lobsters, a penny ; 
and salmon of immense size at six-pence a pound 
(currency), equal to a dime of our money. If you 
prefer trout, you must buy them of these Micmac 
squaws in traditional blankets, a shilling a bunch ; 
and you may also buy baskets of rainbow tints 
from these copper ladies for a mere trifle ; and as 
every race has a separate vocation here, only of the 
negroes can you purchase berries. "This is a busy 
town," one would say, drawing his conclusion from 
the market-place ; for the shifting crowd, in all cos- 
tumes and in all colors, Indians, negroes, soldiers, 
sailors, civilians, and Chizzincookers, make up a 
pageant of no little theatrical effect and bustle. 
Again : if you are still strong in limb, and ready 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 27 

for a longer walk, which I, leaning upon my staff, 
am not, we will visit the encampment at Point 
Pleasant. The Seventy-sixth Regiment has pitched 
its tents here among the evergreens. Yonder you 
see the soldiers, looking like masses of red frnit 
amidst the spicy verdnre of the sprnces. Pow upon 
row of tents, and file upon file of men standing at 
ease, each one before his knapsack, his little leather 
household, with its shoes, socks, shirts, brushes, 
razors, and other furniture open for inspection. 
And there is Sir John Gaspard le Marchant, with a 
brilliant staff, engaged in the pleasant duty of pick- 
ing a personal quarrel with each medal-decorated 
hero, and marking down every hole in his socks, 
and every gap in his comb, for the honor of the 
service. And this Point Pleasant is a lovely place, 
too, with a broad look-out in front, for yonder lies 
the blue harbor and the ocean deeps. Just back of 
the tents is the cookery of the camp, huge mounds 
of loose stones, with grooves at the top, very like 
the architecture of a cranberry-pie ; and if the simile 
be an homely one, it is the best that comes to mind 
to convey an idea of those regimental stoves, with 
their seams and channels of fire, over which pota- 
toes bubble, and roast and boiled send forth a 
savory odor. And here and there, wistfully regard- 
ing this active scene, amid the gi'een shrubbery, 



28 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

stands a sentinel before his sentiy-box, built of 
spruce bouglis, wrought into a mimic military tem- 
ple, and fanciful enough, too, for a garden of roses. 
And look you now ! If here be not Die Yernon, 
with "habit, hat, and feather," cantering gayly 
down the road between the tents, and behind her a 
stately groom in gold-lace band, top-boots, and 
buck-skins. A word in your ear — that pleasant 
half-English face is the face of the Governor's 
daughter. 

The road to Point Pleasant is a favorite prome- 
nade in the long Acadian twilights. Mid-way be- 
tween the city and the Point lies " Kissing Bridge," 
which the Halifax maidens sometimes pass over. 
Who gathers toll nobody knows, but I thought 
there was a mischievous glance in the blue eyes of 
those passing damsels that said plainly they could 
tell, " an' they would." I love to look upon those 
happy, healthy English faces ; those ruddy cheeks, 
flushed with exercise, and those well-developed 
forms, not less attractive because of the sober- 
colored dresses and brown flat hats, in which, o' 
summer evenings, they glide towards the myste- 
rious precincts of '' The Bridge." • What a tale 
those old arches could tell ? ^ Quien sabe f Who 
knows ? 

But next to " Kissing Bridge," the prominent ob- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 29 

ject of interest, now, to Halifax ladies, is the great 
steamer that lies at the Admiralty, the Oriental 
screw-steamer Himalaya — the transport ship of two 
regiments of the heroes of Balaklava, and Alma, 
and Inkerman, and Sebastopol. A vast specimen 
of naval architecture ; an nnusual sight in these 
waters ; a marine vehicle to cany twenty-five hun- 
dred men ! Think of this moving town ; this port- 
able village of royal belligerents covered with 
glory and medals, breasting the billows ! Is there 
not something glorious in such a spectacle ? And 
yet I was told by a brave officer, who wore the 
decorations of the four great battles on his breast, 
that of his regiment, the Sixty-third, but thirty men 
were now living, and of the thirty, seventeen only 
were able to attend drill. That regiment numbered 
a thousand at Alma ! 

No gun broke the silence of the Sabbath morn- 
ing, as the giant ship moved from the Admiralty, 
on the day following our visit to Point Pleasant, 
and silently furrowed her path oceanward on her 
return to Gibraltar. A long line of thick bitumi- 
nous smoke, above the low house-tops, was the only 
hint of her departure, to the citizens. It was a 
gi*and sight to see her vast bulk moving among the 
islands in the harbor, almost as large as they. 

And now, being Sunday, after looking in at the 



30 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

Cathedral, which does not represent the usual pomp 
of the Homish Church, we will yisit the Garrison 
Chapel. A bugle-call from barracks, or Citadel 
Hill, salutes us as we stroll towards the chapel; 
otherwise, Halifax is quiet, as becomes the day. 
Presently we see the long scarlet lines approaching, 
and presently the men, with orderly step, file from 
the street through the porch into the gallery and 
pews. Then the officers of field and line, of ord- 
nance and commissary departments, take their 
allotted seats below. Then the chimes cease, and 
the service begins. Most devoutly we prayed for 
the Queen, and omitted the President of the United 
States. 

As the Crimeans ebbed from the church, and, 
floating off in the distance, wound slowly up Citadel 
Hill against the quiet clear summer sky, I could 
not but think of these lines from Thomas Miller's 
" Summer Morning :" 

" A troop of soldiers pass with stately pace, 
Their early music wakes the village street : 
Through yon turned blinds peeps many a lovely face, 

Smiling perchance unconsciously how sweet ! 

One does the carpet press with blue-veined feet, 

Not thinking how her fair neck she exposes, 

But with white foot timing the drum's deep beat ; 

And when again she on her pillow dozes, 

Dreams how she'll dance that tune 'mong summer's sweetest roses 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES, 31 

*' So let her dream, even as beauty should ! 

Let the white plumes athwart her slumbers sway ! 
Why should I steep their swaling snows in blood, 

Or bid her think of battle's grim array ? 
Truth will too soon her blinding star display, 

And like a fearful comet meet her eyes. 
And yet how peaceful they pass on their way ! 

How grand the sight as up the hill they rise ! 
/ will not think of cities reddening in the skies.^* 



It was my fate to see next day a great celebra- 
tion. It was the celebration of peace between 
England and Russia. Peace h^^ving been pro- 
claimed, all Halifax was in arms ! Loyalty threw 
out her bunting to the breeze, and fired her crack- 
ers. The civic authorities presented an address to 
the royal representative of Her Majesty, requesting 
His Excellency to transmit the same to the foot of 
the throne. Militia-men shot oif municipal cannon ; 
bells echoed from the belfries ; the shipping flut- 
tered with signals ; and Citadel Hill telegraph, in 
a multitude of flags, announced that ghips, brigs, 
schooners, and steamers, in vast quantities, " were 
below." IS'or was the peace alone the great feature 
of the holiday. The eighth of June, the natal day 
of Halifax, was to be celebrated also. For Halifax 
was founded, so says the Chronicle, on the eighth 
of June, 174:9, by the Hon, Edward Cornwallis 



32 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

(not our Cornwallis), and the 'AUigonians in conse- 
quence made a specialty of that fact once a year. 
And to add to the attraction, the Board of Works 
had decided to lay the corner-stone of a Lunatic 
Asylum in the afternoon ; so there was no end to 
the festivities. And, to crown all, an immense fog 
settled upon the city. 

Leaning upon my friend Robert's arm and my 
staff, I went forth to see the grand review. When 
we arrived upon the ground, in the rear of Citadel 
Hill, we saw the outline of something glimmering 
through the fog, which Robert said were shrubs, 
and which I said were soldiers. A few minutes' 
walking proved my position to be correct; we 
found ourselves in the centre of a three-sided 
square of three regiments, within which the civic 
authorities were loyally boring Sir John Gaspard le 
Marchant and staff, to, the verge of insanity, with 
the Address which was to be laid at the foot of the 
throne. ITotwithstanding the despairing air with 
which His Excellency essayed to reply to this for- 
midable paper, I could not help enjoying the scene ; 
and I also noted, when the reply was over, and 
the few ragamuffins near His Excellency cheered 
bravely, and the band struck up the national an- 
them, how gravely and discreetly the rest of the 
'AUigonians, in the circumambient fog, echoed the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 33 

sentiment by a silence, that, under other circum- 
stances, would have been disheartening. What a 
quiet people it is ! As I said before, to make the 
festivities complete, in the afternoon there was 
a procession to lay the corner-stone of a Lunatic 
Asylum. But oh! how the jolly old rain poured 
down upon the luckless pilgrimage ! There were 
the " Yirgins " of Masonic Lodge 'No. — , the Army 
Masons, in scarlet; the African Masons, in ivory 
and black ; the Scotch-piper Mason, with his legs 
in enormous plaid trowsers, defiant of Shakspeare's 
theory about the sensitiveness of some men, when 
the bag-pipe sings i' the nose ; the Clerical Mason 
in shovel hat ; the municipal artillery ; the Sons of 
Temperance, and the band. Away they marched, 
with drum and banner, key and compasses, Bible 
and sword, to Dartmouth, in great feather, for the 
eyes of Halifax were upon them. 



34 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHAPTER n. 

Fog clears Up — The One Idea not comprehended by the American 
Mind — A June Morning in the Province — The Beginning of the 
Evangeliad — Intuitive Perception of Genius — The Forest Prim- 
eval — Acadian Peasants — A Negro Settlement — Deer's Castle — 
The Road to Chezzetcook — Acadian Scenery — A Glance at the 
Early History of Acadia — First Encroachments of the English — 
The Harbor and Village of Chezzetcook — Etc., etc. 

The celebration being o\er, the fog cleared up. 
Loyalty furled her flags ; the civic authorities were 
silent; the signal-telegraph was put upon short 
allowance. But the 'AUigonian papers next day 
were loaded to the muzzle with typographical mis- 
siles. From them we learned that there had been 
a great amount of enthusiasm displayed at the cele- 
bration, and " everything had passed off happily in 
spite of the weather." " Old Chebucto " was right 
side up, and then she quietly sparkled out again. 

There is one solitary idea, and only one, not com- 
prehensible by the American mind. I say it feebly, 
but I say it fearlessly, there is an idea which does 
not present anything to the American mind but a 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 35 

blank. Every metaphysical dog lias worried the 
life out of every abstraction but this. I strike my 
stick down, cross my bands, and rest my cbin upon 
tbem, in support of my position. Let anybody 
attempt to controvert it ! "I say, that in the Ame- 
rican mind, there is no such thing as the conception 
even, of an idea of tranquillity !" I once for a little 
repose, went to a " quiet l^ew-England village," as 
it was called, and the first thing that attracted my 
attention there was a statement in the village 
paper, that no less than twenty persons in that 
quiet place had obtained patent-rights for inven- 
tions and improvements during the past year. 
They had been at everything, from an apple-parer 
to a steam-engine. In the next column was an 
article " on capital punishment," and the leader 
was thoroughly fired up with a bran-new project 
for a railroad to the Pacific. That day I dined 
with a member of Congress, a peripatetic lecturer, 
and the principal citizens of the township, and took 
the return cars at night amid the glaie of a torch- 
light procession. Repose, forsooth? T/hy the 
great busy city seemed to sing lullaby, after the 
shock of that quiet ]^ew-England village. 

But in this quaint, mouldy old town, one can get 
an idea of the calm and the tranquil — especially 
after a celebration. It has been said : " Halifax is 



36 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

tlie only place that is finislied." One can readily 
believe it. The population has been twenty-five 
thousand for the last twenty-five years, and a new 
house is beyond the memory of the oldest inha- 
bitant. 

The fog cleared up. And one of those inexpres- 
sibly balmy days followed. June in Halifax repre- 
sents our early May. The trees are all in bud ; the 
peas in the garden-beds are just marking the lines 
of drills with faint stripes of green. Here and there 
a solitaiy bird whets his bill on the bare bark of a 
forked bough. The chilly air has departed, and in 
its place is a sense of freshness, of dewiness, of fra- 
grance and delight. A sense of these only, an 
instinctive feeling, that anticipates the odor of the 
rose before the rose is blown. On such a morning 
we went forth to visit Chezzetcook, and here, gentle 
reader, beginneth the Evangeliad. 

The intuitive perception of genius is its most strik- 
ing element. I was told by a traveller and an ar- 
tist, who had been for nearly twenty years on the 
northwest coast, that he had read Irving's ^^ Asto- 
ria" as a mere romance, in early life, but when he 
visited the place itself, he found that he was reading 
the hooh over again ^ that Irving's descriptions were 
so minute and perfect, that he was at home in Asto- 
ria, and familiar, not only with the country, but 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 3T 

witli individuals residing there; "for," said lie, 
" although many of the old explorers, trappers, and 
adventurers described in the book were dead and 
gone, yet I found the descendants of those pioneers 
had the peculiar characteristics of their fathers ; and 
the daughter of Concomly, whom I met, was as in- 
teresting a historical personage at home as Queen 
Elizabeth would have been in "Westminster Abbey. 
At Vancouver's Island," said the traveller, " I found 
an old dingy copy of the book itself, embroidered 
and seamed with interlineations and marginal notes 
of hundreds of pens, in every style of chirography, 
yet all attesting the faithfulness of the narrative. I 
would have given anything for that copy, but I do 
not believe I could have purchased it with the price 
of the whole island." 

What but that wonderful element of genius, intio- 
itive jpercejytion, could have produced such a book ? 
Irving was never on the Columbia Kiver, never saw 
the northwest coast. "The materials were fur- 
nished him from the log-books and journals of the 
explorers themselves," says Dr. Dryasdust. True, 
my learned friend, but suppose I furnish you with 
pallet and colors, with canvas and brushes, the ma- 
terials of art, will you paint me as I sit here, and 
make a living, breathing picture, that will survive 
my ashes for centuries ? "I have not the genius of 



38 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

the artist," replies Dr. Dryasdust. Then, my dear 
Doctor, we will put the materials aside for the pre- 
sent, and venture a little farther with our theory of 
" intuitive perception." 

Longfellow never saw the Acadian Land, and yet 
thus his pastoral begins : 

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hem- 
locks." 

This is the opening line of the poem : this is the 
striking feature of JS'ova Scotia scenery. The shores 
welcome us with waving masses of foliage, but not 
the foliage of familiar woods. As we travel on this 
hilly road to the Acadian settlement, we look up 
and say, " This is the forest primeval," but it is the 
forest of the poem, not that of our childhood. There 
is not, in all this vast greenwood, an oak, an elm, a 
chestnut, a beech, a cedar or maple. For miles and 
miles, we see nothing against tlie clear blue sky but 
the spiry tops of evergreens ; or perhaps, a gigantic 
skeleton, " a rampike," pine or hemlock, scathed 
and spectral, stretches its gaunt outline above its 
fellows. Spruces and firs, such as adorn our gar- 
dens, cluster in never-ending profusion ; and aro- 
matic and unwonted odor pervades the air — the 
spicy breath of resinous balsams. Sometimes the 
sense is touched with a new fragrance, and presently 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 39 

we see a buckthorn, white with a thousand blossoms. 
These, however, only meet us at times. The distinct 
and characteristic feature of the forest is conveyed 
in that one line of the poet. 

And yet another feature of the forest primeval 
presents itself, not less striking and unfamiliar. 
From the dead branches of those skeleton pines and 
hemlocks, these ram^iTces^ hang masses of white 
moss, snow-wliite, amid the dark verdure. An 
actor might wear such a beard in the play of King 
Lear. Acadian children wore such to imitate 
^^ grandjpere^'^ centuries ago; Cowley's trees are 
" Patricians," these are Patriarchs. 

" THE murmuring pines and the hemlockg, 

Bearded toith moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, 
Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, 
Stand like harpers hoar with beards that rest on their bosoms^ 

We are re-reading Evangeline line by line. And 
here, at this turn of the road, we encounter two 
Acadian peasants. The man wears an old tarpaulin 
hat, home-spun worsted shirt, and tarry canvas 
trowsers ; innovation has certainly changed him, in 
costume at least, from the Acadian of our fancy ; 
but the pretty brown-skinned girl beside him, with 
lustrous eyes, and soft black hair under her hood, 
with kirtle of antique form, and petticoat of holiday 
homespun, is true to tradition. There is nothing 



40 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

modern in tlie face or drapery of that figure. She 
miglit have stepped out of l^ormandy a century 
ago, 

" Wearing lier Norman cap, and her kirtle of blue, and the ear-rings 
Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as an heir-loom, 
Handed down from mother to child, through long generations." 

Alas ! the ear-rings are worn out with age ! but 
save them, the picture is very true to the life. As 
we salute the pair, we learn they have been walking 
on their way since dawn from distant Chezzetcook : 
the man speaks English with a strong French 
accent; the maiden only the language of her 
people on the banks of the Seine. 

" Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers. 
Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the 

way-side : 
Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brox^n shade of 

her tresses." 

Who can help repeating the familiar words of the 
idyl amid such scenery, and in such a presence ? 

" We are now approaching a ISTegro settlement," 
said my comjpagnon de ^voyage after we had passed 
the Acadians ; " and we will take a fresh horse at 
Deer's Castle ; this is rough travelling." In a few 
minutes we saw a log house perched on a bare bone 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 41 

of granite tliat stood out on a ragged hill-side, and 
presently another cabin of the same kind came in 
view. Then other scare-crow edifices wheeled in 
sight as we drove along ; all forlorn, all patched 
with mud, all perched on barren knolls, or gigantic 
bars of granite, high np, like ragged redoubts of 
poverty, armed at every window mth a formidable 
artillery of old hats, rolls of rags, quilts, carpets, 
and indescribable bundles, or barricaded with 
boards to keep out the air and sun-shine. 

" You do not mean to say those wretched hovels 
are occupied by living beings ?" said I to my com- 
panion. 

" Oh yes," he replied, with a quiet smile, "these 
are your people, your fugitives.'''^ 

'' But, surely," said I, " they do not live in those 
airy nests during your intensely cold winters ?" 

" Yes," rej)lied my companion, " and they have a 
pretty hard time of it. Between you and I," he 
continued, " they are a miserable set of devils ; 
they won't work, and they shiver it out here as well 
as they can. During the most of the year they are 
in a state of abject want, and then they are very 
humble. But in the strawberry season they make 
a little money, -and while it lasts are fat and saucy 
enough. Wq can't do anytliing with them, they 
won't work. There they are in their cabins, just as 



42 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

you see them, a poor, woe-begone set of vagabonds ; 
a burden upon the community ; of no use to them- 
selves, nor to anybody else." 

" Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of 
fancy and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of 
hope, who expect that age will perform the pro- 
mises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the pre- 
sent day will be supplied by the morrow, attend to 
the history of Rasselas, here in his happy valley." 

"]S"ow then," said my companion, as this trite 
quotation was passing through my mind. The 
wagon had stopped in front of a little, weather- 
beaten house that kept watch and ward over an acre 
of greensward, broken ever and anon with a pro- 
jecting bone of granite, and not only fenced with 
stone, but dotted also with various mounds of peb- 
bles, some as large as a paving-stone, and some 
much larger. This was " Deer's Castle." In front 
of the castle was a swing-sign with an inscription : 

" William Deer, who lives here, 
Keeps the best of wine and beer, 
Brandy, and cider, and other good cheer ; 
Fish, and ducks, and moose, and deer, . 

Caught or shot in the woods just here. 
With cutlets, or steaks, as will appear ; 
If you will stop you need not fear 
But you will be well treated by William Deer, 
And by Mrs. Deer, his dearest, deary dear!" 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 43 

I quote from memory. The precise words have 
escaped me, but the above is the substance of the 
sense, and the metre is accurate. 

It was a little, weather-beaten shanty of boards, 
that clung like flakes to the frame-work. A show- 
box of a room, papered with select wood-cuts from 
Punch and the Illustrated London News^ was the 
grand banquet-hall of the castle. And indeed it 
was a castle compared with the wretched redoubts 
of poverty around it. Here we changed horses, or 
rather we exchanged our horse, for a diminutive, 
bantam pony, that, under the supervision of "Bill," 
was put inside the shafts and buckled up to the 
very roots of the harness. This Bill, the son and 
heu' of the Castellen, was a good-natured yellow 
boy, about fifteen years of age, with such a develop- 
ment of under-lip and such a want of development 
elsewhere, that his head looked like a scoop. There 
was an infinite fund of humor in Billy, an uncon- 
trollable sense of the comic, that would break out 
in spite of his grave endeavors to put himself under 
guard. It exhibited itself in his motions and ges- 
tures, in the flourish of his hands as he buckled up 
the pony, in the looseness of his gait, the swing of 
his head, and the roll of his eyes. His very lan- 
guage was pregnant with mirth ; thus : 

"Bill!" 



44 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

"Clieli, cheli, sir? cliek" 

" Is your father at home ?" 

" Cheh, cheh, father? cheh, cheh." 

" Yes, your father ?" 

" Cheh, cheh, at home, sah ? cheh." 

" Yes, is your father at home ?" 

" I guess so, cheh, cheh." 

" What is the matter with you, Bill ? what are 
you laughing about ?" 

" Cheh, cheh, I don't know, sah, cheh, cheh." 

" Well, take out the horse, and put in the pony ; 
we want to go to Chizzencook." 

" Cheh, Cheh'z'ncook ? Yes, sah," and so with 
that facetious gait and droll twist of the elbow. Bill 
swings himself against the horse and unbuckles 
him in a perpetual jingle of merriment. 

" And this," said I to my companion, as we looked 
from the door-step of the shanty upon the spiry tops 
of evergreens in the valley below us, and at the 
wretched log-huts that were roosting up on the bare 
rocks around us, " this is the negro settlement ?" 

" Yes," he replied. 

" Are all the negro settlements in ^ova Scotia 
as miserable as this ?" 

" Yes," he answered ; " you can tell a negro set- 
tlement at once by its appearance." 

" Then," I thought to myself, " I would, for poor 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 45 

CuiFee's sake, that much-vaunted British sympathy 
and British philanthropy had something better to 
show to an admiring world than the prospect 
around Deer's Castle." 

ISTotwithstanding the very generous banquet 
spread before tlie eyes of the traveller, on the 
sign-board, we were compelled to dismiss the pleas- 
ant fiction of the poet upon the annoimcement of 
Mrs. Deer, that "]S'athin was in de house 'cept 
bacon," and she "reckoned" she "might have an 
egg or two by de time we got back from Chizzin- 
cook." 

" But you have plenty of trout here in these 
streams ?" 

" Oh ! yes, plenty, sah." 

" Then let Bill catch some trout for us." 

And so the pony being strapped up and buckled 
to the wagon, we left the negro settlement for the 
French settlement. They are all in " settlements," 
here, the people of this Province. Centuries are 
mutable, but prejudices never alter in the Colonies. 

But we are again in the Acadian forest— a truce 
to moralizing — let us enjoy the scenery. The road 
we are on is but a few miles from the sea-shore, but 
the ocean is hidden from view by the thick woods. 
As we ride along, however, we skirt the edges of 
coves and inlets that frequently break in upon the 



46 ACADIA, ORAMONTH 

landscape. There is a diain of fresh-water lakes 
also along this road ; sometimes we cross a bridge 
over a rnshing torrent ; sometimes a calm expanse 
of water, doubling the evergreens at its margin, 
comes in view ; anon a gleam of sapphire strikes 
through the verdure, and an ocean-bay with its 
shinglj beach curves in and out between the piny 
slopes. At last we reach the crest of a hill, and at 
the foot of the road is another bridge, a house, a 
wharf, and two or three coasters at anchor in a 
diminutive harbor. This is " Three Fathom Har- 
bor." We are within a mile of Chezzetcook. 

]^ow if it were not for Pony we should press on 
to the settlement, but we must give Pony a respite. 
Pony is an enthusiastic little fellow, but his lungs 
are too much for him, they have blown him out 
like a bag-pipe. A mile farther and then eleven 
miles back to Deer's Castle, is a great undertaking 
for so small an animal. In the meanwhile, we will 
ourselves rest and take some "home-brewed" with 
the landlord, who is harbor-master, inn-keeper, store- 
keeper, fisherman, shipper, skipper, mayor, and cor- 
poration of Three Fathom Harbor, beside being fa- 
ther of the town, for all the children in it are his own. 
A draught of foaming ale, a whiff or two from a clay 
pipe, a look out of the window to be assured that 
Pony had subsided, and we take leave of the corpo- 



WITU THE BLUE NOSES. 47 

rate authority of Three Fathom Harbor, and are 
once more on the road. 

One can scarcely draw near to a settlement of 
these poor rctiigees without a feeling of pity for 
the sulferings they have endured ; and this spark 
of pity quickly warms and kindles into indignation 
when we think of the story of hapless Acadia — the 
grievous wrong done those simple-minded, harm- 
less, honest people, by the rapacious, free-booting 
adventurers of merry England, and those precious 
filibusters, our Pilgrim Fathers. 

The early explorations of the French in the 
young hemisphere which Columbus had revealed 
to the older half of the world, have been almost 
entirely obscured by the greater events which fol- 
lowed. Nearly a century after the first colonies 
were established in New France, New England 
was discovered. 1 shall not dwell upon the impor- 
t^ince of this event, as it has been so often alluded 
to by historians and others ; and, indeed, I believe 
it is generally acknowledged now, that the finding 
of tlie continent itself would have been a failure 
had it not been for the discovery of Massachusetts. 
As this, however, happened long after the establish- 
ment of Acadia, and as the Pilgrim Fathers did not 
interfere with their French neighbors for a surpris- 
ing lengtli of time, it will be as well not to expj.- 



48 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

tiate upon it at present. In the course of a couple 
of centuries or so, I shall have occasion to allude 
to it, in connection with the story of the neutral 
French. 

In the year 1504, says the Chronicle, some fisher- 
men from Brittany discovered the island that now 
forms the eastern division of I^ova Scotia, and 
named it " Cape Breton." Two years after, Dennys 
of Harfleur, made a rude chart of the vast sheet of 
water that stretches from Cape Breton and I^ew- 
foundland to the main-land. Li 1634, Cartier, sail- 
ing under the orders of the French Admiral, 
Chabot, visited the coast of ITewfoundland, crossed 
the gulf Dennys had seen and described twenty- 
eight years i)efore, and took possession of the coun- 
try around it, in the name of the king, his master. 
As Cartier was recrossing the Gulf, on his return 
voyage, he named the waters he was sailing upon 
" St. Lawrence," in honor of that saint whose day 
chanced to turn up on the calendar at that very 
happy time. According to some accounts. Baron 
de Lery established a settlement here as early as 
1518. Some authorities state that a French colony 
was planted on the St. Lawrence as early as 1524, 
and soon after others were formed in Canada and 
'NoY3i Scotia. In 1535, Cartier again crossed the 
waters of the Gulf, and following the course of the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 49 

river, penetrated, into the interior until lie reached 
an island upon which was a hill; this he named 
"Mont Eeaiy Various adventurers followed these 
first discoverers and explorers, and the coast was 
from time to time visited b j French ships, in pur- 
suit of the fisheries. 

Among these expeditions, one of the most emi- 
nent was that of Champlain, who, in the year 1609, 
penetrated as far south as the head waters of the 
Hudson Eiver; visited Lake George and the cascades 
of Ticonderoga; and gave his own name to the 
lake which lies between the proud shores of iN'ew 
York and J^ew England. Thence le Sr, Champlain, 
"Ca])itaine pour le Roy^^ travelled westward, as 
far as the country of the Hurons, giving to the 
discovered territory the title of E"ouvelle France ; 
and to the lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, the 
names of St. Louis, Mer Douce, and Grand Lac ; 
which any person can see by referring to the origi- 
nal chart in the State library of E'ew York. But 
before these discoveries of Champlain, an important 
step had been taken by the parent government. In 
the year 1603, an expedition, under the patronage 
of Henry lY., sailed for the ISTew World, The 
leader of this was a Protestant gentleman, by name 
De Monts. As the people under his command were 
both Protestants and Catholics, De Monts had per- 



50 ACADIA, OK A MONTH 

mission given in his charter to establish, as one of 
the fundamental laws of the Colony, the free exer- 
cise of " religious worship," upon condition of set- 
tling in the country, and teaching the Roman 
Catholic faith to the savages. Heretofore, all the 
countries discovered by the French had been called 
'New France, but in De Monts' Patent, that portion 
of the territory lying east of the Penobscot and 
embracing the present provinces of JSTew Bruns- 
wick, IN^ova Scotia, and part of Maine was named 
" Acadia." 

The little colony under De Monts flourished in 
spite of the rigors of the climate, and its com- 
mander, with a few men, explored the coast on the 
St. Lawrence and the bay of Fundy, as well as the 
rivers of Maine, the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the 
Saco and Casco Bay, and even coasted as far south 
as the long, hook-shaped cape that is now known in 
all parts of the world as the famous Cape Cod. In 
a few years, the settlement began to assume a smil- 
ing aspect; houses were erected, and lands were 
tilled ; the settlers planted seeds and gathered the 
increase thereof ; gardens sprang out of the wilder- 
ness, peace and order reigned everywhere, and the 
savage tribes around viewed the kind, light-hearted 
colonists with admiration and fraternal good-will. 
It is pleasant to read this part of the chronicle — of 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 51 

their social meetings in the winter at the banquet- 
ing hall; of the order of "Z^ Bon Temjps^'' estab- 
lished by Champlain ; of the great pomp and 
insignia of office (a collar, a napkin, and staff) of 
the grand chamberlain, whose government only 
lasted for a day, when he was supplanted by an- 
other; of their dinners in the sunshine amid the 
corn-fields ; of their boats, banners, and music on 
the water ; of their gentleness, simplicity, and 
honest, hearty enjoyments. These halcyon days 
soon came to an end. The infamous Captain Ar- 
gall, hearing that a number of white peo^ile had 
settled in this hyperborean region, set sail from 
Jamestown for the colony, in a ship of fourteen 
guns, in the midst of a profound peace, to burn, pil- 
lage, and slaughter the intruders upon the territory 
of Virginia ! Finding the people unprepared for 
defence, his enterprise was successful. Argall took 
possession of the lands, in the name of the King of 
England, laid waste some of the settlements, burned 
the forts, and, under circumstances of peculiar per- 
fidy, induced a number of the poor Acadians to go 
with him to Jamestown. Here they were treated 
as pirates, thrown into prison, and sentenced to be 
executed. Argall, wlio it seems had some touch of 
manhood in his nature, upon this confessed to the 
Governor, Sir Thomas Dale, that tliese people had 



62 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

a patent from the King of France, wliicli lie had 
stolen from them and concealed, and that they were 
not pirates, but simply colonists. Upon this, Sir 
Thomas Dale was induced to fit out an expedition 
to dislodge the rest of them from Acadia. Three 
ships were got ready, the brave Captain Argall was 
aj^pointed commander-in-chief, and the first colony 
was terminated by fire and sword before the end of 
the year. This was in 1613, ten years after the first 
planting of Acadia. 

" Some of the settlers," says the Chronicle, 
"finding resistance to be imavailing, fled to the 
woods." What became of them history does not 
inform us, but with a graceful appearance of candor, 
relates that the transaction itself " was not approved 
of by the court of England, nor resented by that of 
France." Five years afterward we find Captain 
Argall appointed Deputy-Governor of Virginia. 

This outrasre was the initial letter onlv of a series 
that for nearly a century and a half after, made the 
successive colonists of Acadia the prey of their 
rapacious neighbors. "We shall take up the story 
from time to time, gentle reader, as we voyage 
around and through the province. Meanwhile let 
us open our eyes again upon the present, for just 
below us lies the village and harbor of Chezzetcook. 

A conspiracy of earth and air and ocean had cer- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 53 

tainly broken out that morning, for tlie ominous 
lines of Fog and Mist were hovering afar off upon 
the boundaries of the horizon. Under the crystal- 
line azure of a summer sky, the water of the harbor 
had an intensity of color rarely seen, except in the 
pictures of the most ultra-marine painters. Here 
and there a green island or a fishing-boat rested 
upon the surface of the tranquil blue. For miles 
and miles the eye followed indented grassy slopes, 
that rolled away on either side of the harbor, and 
the most delicate pencil could scarcely portray the 
exquisite line of creamy sand that skirted their 
edges and melted off in the clear margin of the 
water. Occasional little cottages nestle among 
these green banks, not the Acadian houses of the 
poem, "with thatched roofs, and dormer windows 
projecting," but comfortable, homely-looking build- 
ings of modern shapes, shingled and un-weather- 
cocked. ISTo cattle visible, no ploughs nor horses. 
Some of the men are at work in the open air; all in 
tarpaulin hats, all in tarry canvas trowsers. These 
are boat-builders and coopers. Simple, honest, and 
good-tempered enough; you see how courteously 
they salute us as we ride by them. In front of every 
house there is a knot of curious little faces ; Youna: 
Acadia is out this bright day, and although Young 
Acadia has not a clean face on, yet its hair is of the 



54 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

darkest and softest, and its eyes are lustrous and 
most delicately fringed. Yonder is one of tlie 
veterans of the place, so we will tie Pony to tlie 
fence, and rest here. 

" Fine day you have here," said my companion. 

" Oh yes ! oh yes !" (with great deference and 
politeness). 

" Can you give us anything in the way of refresh- 
ment? a glass of ale, or a glass of milk?" 

" Oh no !" (with the unmistakable shrug of the 
shoulders) ; " we no have milk, no have ale, no have 
brandy, no have noting here : ah ! we very poor 
peep' here." (Poor people here.) 

" Can we sit down and rest in one of your 
houses ?" 

"Oh yes! oh yes!" (with great politeness and 
alacrity) ; " walk in, walk in ; we very poor peep', 
no milk, no brandy : walk in." 

The little house is divided by a partition. Tlie 
larger half is the hall, the parlor, kitchen, and nur- 
sery in one. A huge fire-place, an antique spin- 
ning-wheel, a bench, and two settles, or high- 
backed seats, a table, a cradle and a baby very 
wide awake, complete the inventory. In the apart- 
ment adjoining is a bin that represents, no doubt, a 
French bedstead of the early ages. Everything is 
suggestive of boat-builders, of Robinson Crusoe 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 55 

work, of undisciplined hands, that have had to do 
with ineffectual tools. As you look at the walls, 
you see the house is built of timbers, squared and 
notched together, and caulked with moss or oakum. 
" Yery poor peep' here," says the old man, with 
every finger on his hands stretched out to deprecate 
the fact. By the fire-side sits an old woman, in a 
face all cracked and seamed with wrinkles, like 
a picture by one of the old masters. " Yes," she 
echoes, " very poor peep' here, and very cold, too, 
sometime." By this time the door-way is entirely 
packed with little, black, shining heads, and curious 
faces, all shy, timid, and yet not the less good- 
natured. Just back of the cradle are two of the 
Acadian women, "knitters i' the sun," with fea- 
tures that might serve for Palmer's sculptures ; and 
eyes so lustrous, and teeth so white, and cheeks so 
rich with brown and blush, that if one were a pain- 
ter and not an invalid, he might pray for canvas and 
pallet as the very things most wanted in the criti- 
cal moment of his life. Faed's picture does not 
convey the Acadian face. Tlie mouth and chin are 
more delicate in- the real than in the ideal Evange- 
line. If you look again, after the first surprise is 
over, you will see that these are the traditional pic- 
tures, such as we might have fancied they should 
be, after reading the idyl. From the forehead 



56 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

of eacli you see at a glance how tlie dark mass of 
liair has been combed forward and over the face, 
that the little triangular Norman cap might be tied 
across the crown of the head. Then the hair is 
thrown back again over this, so as to form a large 
bow in front, then re-tied at the crown with colored 
ribbons. Then you see it has been plaited in a 
shining mesh, brought forward again, and braided 
with ribbons, so that it forms, as it were, a pretty 
coronet, well-placed above those brilliant eyes and 
harmonious features. This, with the antique kirtle 
and picturesque petticoat, is an Acadian portrait. 
Such is it now, and such it was, no doubt, when De 
Monts sailed from Havre de Grace, two centuries 
and a half ago. In visiting this kind and simple 
people, one can scarcely forget the little chapeL 
The young French priest was in his garden, behind 
the little tenement, set apart for him by the piety 
of his flock, and readily admitted us. A small 
place indeed was it, but clean and orderly, the altar 
decorated with toy images, that were not too large 
for a Christmas table. Yet I have been in the 
grandest tabernacles of episcopacy with lesser feel- 
ings of respect than those which were awakened in 
that tiny Acadian chapel. Peace be with it, and 
with its gentle flock. 

" Pony is getting impatient," said my compa- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 57 

nion, as we reverently stepped from the door-way, 
" and it is a long ride to Halifax." So, with cour- 
teous salutation on both sides, we take leave of the 
good father, and once more are on the road to 
Deer's Castle. 



3* 



58 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHAPTEE in. 

A Romp at Three Fathom Harbor — The Moral Condition of the 
Acadians — The Wild Flowers of Nova Scotia — Mrs, Deer's Wit — 
No Fish — ^Picton — The Balaklava Schooner — And a Yoyage to 
Louisburgh, 

Pony is very enterprising. We are soon at tlie 
top of the first long hill, and look again, for the last 
time, upon the Acadian village. How cosily and 
quietly it is nestled down amid those graceful green 
slopes ! What a bit of poetry it is in itself ! Jog 
on, Pony! 

The corporate authority of Three Fathom Harbor 
has been improving his time during our absence. 
As we drive up we find him in high romp with a 
brace of buxom, red-cheeked, ISTova Scotia girls, 
who have just alighted from a wagon. The land- 
lady of Three Fathom Harbor, in her matronly cap, 
is smiling over the little garden gate at her lord, 
who is pursuing his Daphnes, and catching, and 
kissing, and hugging, first one and then the other, 
to his heart's content. I^otwithstanding their 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 69 

screams, and slaps, and robust struggles, it is very 
plain to be seen that the skipper's attentions are not 
very unwelcome. Leaving his fair friends, he 
catches Pony by the bridle and stops us with a hos- 
pitable — " Come in — ^you must come in ; just a glass 
of ale, you'll want it ; " and sure enough, we found 
when we came to taste the ale, that we did want it, 
and many thanks to him, the kind-hearted landlord 
of the Three Fathoms. 

" It is surprising," said I to my companion, as we 
rolled again over the road, " that these people, these 
Acadians, should still preserve their language and 
customs, so near to your princij^al city, and yet with 
no more affiliation than if they were on an island in 
the South Seas !" 

" The reason of that," he replied, "is because they 
stick to their own settlement ; never see anything 
of the world except Halifax early in the morning ; 
never marry out of their own set ; never read — ^I 
do not believe one of them can read or write — and 
are in fact so slow, so destitute of enterprise, so 
much behind the age " 

I could not avoid smiling. My companion ob- 
served it. " What are you thinking about?" said he. 

The truth is, I was thinking of Halifax, which was 
anything but Sifast place ; but I simply observed : 

" Your settlements here are somewhat novel to a 



60 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

stranger. That a mere handful of men slionld be 
so near your city, and yet so isolated : that this vil- 
lage of a few hundred only, should retain its customs 
and language, intact, for generation after genera- 
tion, within walking distance of Halifax, seems to 
me unaccountable. But let me ask you," I con- 
tinued, " what is the moral condition of the Aca- 
dians ?" 

" As for that," said he, " I believe it stands pretty 
fair. I do not think an Acadian would cheat, lie, 
or steal ; I know that the women are virtuous, and 
if I had a thousand pounds in my pocket I could 
sleep with confidence in any of their houses, 
although all the doors were unlocked and every- 
body in the village knew it." 

" Tliat," said I, " reminds one of the poem : 

'Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows, 
But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of their owners; 
There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance.' " 

Poor exiles ! You will never see the Gasperau 
and the shore of the Basin of Minas, but if this very 
feeble life I have holds out, I hope to visit Grandpre 
and the broad meadows that gave a name to the 
village. 

One thing Longfellow has certainly omitted in 
" Evangeline " — ^the wild flowers of Acadia. The 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 61 

road-side is all fringed and tasselled with white, 
pink, and purple. The wild strawberries are in 
blossom, whitening the turf all the way from Hali- 
fax to Chezzetcook. You see their starry settle- 
ments thick in every bit of turf. These are the sil- 
ver mines of poor Cuffee ; he has the monopoly of 
the berry trade. It is his only revenue. Then in the 
swampy grounds there are long green needles in soli- 
tary groups, surmounted with snowy tufts ; and here 
and there, clusters of light purple blossoms, called 
laurel flowers, but not like our laurels, spring up 
from the bases of grey rocks and boulders ; some- 
times a rich array of blood-red berries gleams out 
of a mass of greenery; then again great floral white 
radii, tipped with snowy petals, rise up profuse and 
lofty ; down by the ditches hundreds of pitcher 
2)lants lift their veined and mottled vases, brimming 
with water, to the wood-birds who drink and perch 
upon their thick rims ; May-flowers of delightful 
fragrance hide beneath those shining, tropical-look- 
ing leaves, and meadow-sweet, not less fragrant, but 
less beautiful, pours its tender aroma into the fresh 
air ; here again we see the buckthorn in blossom ; 
there, scattered on the turf, the scarlet partridge 
berry ; then wild-cherry trees, mere shrubs only, in 
full bud ; and around all and above all, the ever- 
greens, the murmuring pines, and the hemlocks ; 



63 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

the rampikes — ^the grey-beards of the primeval 
foi*est ; the spicy breath of resinous balsiims ; the 
spiry tops, and the serene heaven. Is this fairy 
land ? No, it is only poor, old, barren !N^ova Scotia, 
and yet I think Felix, Prince of Salerno, if he wei*e 
hei-e, might Siiy, and siiy truly too, " In all my life 
I never beheld a moi'e enchanting place f ' but Felix, 
Prince of Salerno, must i*emeniber tliis is the month 
of June, and summer is not perpetual in the lati- 
tude of fortv-five. 

AVe i-each at last Deer s Castle. Pony, under the 
hands of Bill, seems remarkablv cheerful and tresh 
after his long travel up hill and down. When he 
pops out of his harness, with his knock-knees and 
sturdy, stocky little frame, he looks very like an 
animated sawbuek, clothed in seal-skin ; and with 
a jump, and snort, and flourish of tail, he escorts 
Bill to the stable, as if twentv miles over a rous^h 
road was a trifle not worth consideration. 

A savory odor of frvinsr bacon and e<rfi:s stole forth 
fix>m the door as we sat, in the calm summer air, 
upon the stone fence. William Deer, Jr., was wan- 
dering: about in fi-ont of the castle, endeavorinsr to 
get control of his under lip and keep his exubei*ant 
mii'th within the limits of decorum ; but every in- 
stant, to use a militarv fio^ui'e, it would flash in the 
pan. I'p on the bare rocks wei'e the wi-etchod, woe- 



WITH TnE BLUE NOSES. 63 

bepjone, piitclied, and rii«i^ged log huts of poor Cuf- 
foo. The liour and the season were suggestive of 
philosophizing, of theories, and questions. 

" Mrs. Deer," said I, " is that your husband's por- 
trait on the back of the sign ?" (there was a picture 
of a stag with antlers on the reverse of the poetical 
swing-board, cither intended as a pictographic pun 
upon the name of "Deer," or as a hint to sportsmen 
of good game hereabouts). 

" Why," replied Mrs. Deer, an old tidy wench, 
of fifty, pretty well bent by rheumatism, and so 
square in the lower half of her figure, and so spare 
in the upper, that she appeared to have been carved 
out of her own hips : " why, as to dat, he ain't good- 
looking to brag on, but I don't think he looks quite 
like a beast neither. 

At this unexpected retort, Bill flashed ofi' so 
many pans at once that he seemed to be a platoon 
of militia. My companion also enjoyed it im- 
mensely. Being an invalid, I could not participate 
in the general mirth. 

" Mrs. Deer," said I, " how long have you lived 
here ?" 

'*■ Oh, sail ! :i i^ood numv vears : I cum here afore 
I had Bill dar." (Here William flashed in the pan 
twice.) 



GJ: ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

" Wliere did yoii reside before yon came to Nova 
Scotia?" 

"Sah?" 

'' TTliere did you live ?" 

" Oil, sah ! I is from Maryland." (William at it 
again.) 

" Did you run away ?" 

" Yes, sail ; I left wlieii I was young. Bill, what 
you laughing at? 7" was young once." 

" AYere you married then — ^^vlien you run away ?" 

"Oh yes, sah!" (a glance at Bill, who was off 
again). 

" And left your husband behind in Maryland ?" 

" Yes, sah ; but he didn't stay long dar after I 
left. He was after me putty sharp, soon as I tra- 
velled ;" (here Mrs. Deer and William interchanged 
glances, and indulged freely in mirth). 

" And which place do you like the best — this or 
Maryland ?" 

" Why, I never had no such work to do at home 
as I have to do here, grubbiii' up old stumps and 
stones ; dem isn't women's work. When I was 
home, I had only to wait on misses, and work was 
light and easy." (William quiet.) 

" But which place do you like the best — ISTova 
Scotia or Marvland?" 

"Oh! de work here is awful, grubbiii' up old 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 65 

stones and stumps ; 'tain't fit for women." (Wil- 
liam much impressed with the cogency of this 
repetition.) 

" But which place do you like the best ?" 

" And de winter here, oh ! it's wonderful tryin." 
(William utters an afiirmative flash.) 

" But which place do you like the best ?" 

" And den dere's de rheumatiz." 

"But which place do you like the best, Mrs. 
Deer ?" 

"Well," said Mrs. Deer, glancing at Bill, "I like 
Nova Scotia best." (Whatever visions of Maryland 
were gleaming in William's mind, seemed to be 
entirely quenched by tliis remark.) 

" But why," said I, " do you prefer JSTova Scotia 
to Maryland? Here you have to work so much 
harder, to suffer so much from the cold and the 
rheumatism, and get so little for it;" for I could 
not help looking over the green patch of stony 
grass that has been rescued by the labor of a quar- 
ter century. 

" Oh !" replied Mrs. Deer, " de diflerence is, dat 
when I work here, I work for myself, and when I 
was working at home, I was working for other peo- 
ple." (At this, William broke forth again in such 
a series of platoon flashes, that we all joined in 
with infinite merriment.) 



66 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

" Mrs. Deer," said I, recovering my gravity, " I 
want to ask you one more question." 

" Well, sail," said the lady Deer, cocking ker 
head on one side, expressive of being able to an- 
swer any number of questions in a twinkling. 

" You liave, no doubt, still many relatives left in 
Maryland ?" 

" Oh! yes," replied Mrs. Deer, ''all of dem are 
dar." 

"And suppose you had a chance to advise them 
in regard to this matter, would you tell them to run 
away, and take their part with you in ISTova Scotia, 
or would you advise them to stay where they are ?" 

Mrs. Deer, at this, looked a long time at William, 
and William looked earnestly at his parent. Then 
she cocked her head on the other side, to take a 
new view of the question. Tlien she gathered up 
mouth and eyebrows, in a puzzle, and again broad- 
ened out upon Bill in an odd kind of smile ; at last 
she doubled up one fist, put it against her cheek, 
glanced at Bill, and out came the answer : " Well, 
sah, I'd let 'em take dere ow7i heads for dat !" I 
must confess the philosophy of this remark awak- 
ened in me a train of very grave reflections ; but 
my companion burst into a most obstreperous 
laugh. As for Mrs. Deer, she shook her old hips 
as long as she could stand, and then sat down and 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 67 

continued, until she wiped the tears out of her eyes 
with the corner of her apron. William cast him- 
self down upon a strawberry bank, and gave way 
to the most flagrant mirth, kicking up his old shoes 
in the air, and fairly wallowing in laughter and 
blossoms. I endeavored to change the subject. 
" Bill, did you catch any trout ?" It was some time 
before William could control himself enough to 
say, " Not a single one, sah ;" and then he rolled 
over on his back, put his black paws up to his eyes, 
and twitched and jingled to his heart's content. I 
did not ask Mrs. Deer any more questions ; but 
there is a moral in the story, enough for a day. 

As we rattled over the road, after our brief din- 
ner at Deer's Castle, I could not avoid a pervading 
feeling of gloom and disappointment, in spite of 
the balmy air and pretty landscape. The old rag- 
ged abodes of wretchedness seemed to be too clearly 
defined — to stand out too intrusively against the 
bright blue sky. But why should I feel so much 
for Cuffee ? Has he not enlisted in his behalf every 
philanthropist in England ? Is he not within ten 
miles of either the British flag or Acadia ? Does 
not the Duchess of Sutherland entertain the au- 
thoress of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the Black Swan ? 
Why should I sorrow for Cuflee, when he is in the 
midst of his best friends ? Why should I pretend 



68 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

to say tliat this appears to be the raggedest, the 
meanest, the worst condition of hnmanity, when the 
papers are constantly landing British philanthropy, 
and holding it np as a great example, which we 
mnst "bow down and worship ?" For my own 
part, althongh the pleasant fiction of seeing Cnffee 
clothed, educated, and Christianized, seemed to be 
somewhat obscnred in this glimpse of his real con- 
dition, yet I hope he will do well under his new 
owners ; at the very least, I trust his berry crop 
will be good, and that a benevolent British blanket 
or two may enable him to shiver out the winter 
safely, if not comfortably. Poor William Deer, 
Sen'r, of Deer's Castle, was suffering with rheuma- 
tism in the next apartment, while we were at his 
eggs and bacon in the banquet hall ; but Deer of 
Deer's Castle is a prince to his neighbors. I shall 
not easily forget the brightening eye, the swift 
glance of intelligence in the face of another old 
negro, an hostler, in ]S[ova Scotia. He was from 
Yirginia, and adopting the sweet, mellifluous lan- 
guage of his own home, I asked him whether he 
liked best to stay where he was, or go back to " Old 
Yirginny ?" " O massa !" said he, with s^och a look. 
" you must hnoio dat I has de warmest side for my 
own country !" 

We rattled soberly into Dartmouth, and took the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 69 

ferrj-boat across the bay to the city. At the hotel 
there was no little questioning about Chezzetcook, 
for some of the Halifax merchants are at the 
Waverley. " Goed bless ye, what took ye to Chiz- 
zencook ?" said one, " I never was there een in my 
life ; ther's no bizz'ness ther, noathing to be seen : 
ai doant think there is a maen in Halifax scairsly, 
'as ever seen the place." 

At the supper-table, while we were discussing, 
over the cheese and ale, the Chezzetcook and 
negro settlements, and exhibiting with no little 
vainglory a gorgeous bunch of wild flowers (half of 
which vanity my com^agnon de voyage is account- 
able for), there was a young English-Irish gentle- 
man, well built, well featured, well educated : by 
name — I shall call him Picton. 

Picton took much interest in Deer's Castle and 
Chezzetcook, but slily and satirically. I do not 
think this the best way for a young man to begin 
with ; but nevertheless, Picton managed so well to 
keep his sarcasms within the bounds of good 
humor, that before eleven o'clock we had become 
pretty well acquainted. At eleven o'clock the gas 
is turned off at Hotel Waverley. We went to bed, 
and renewed the acquaintance at breakfast. Picton 
had travelled over-land from Montreal to take the 
" Canada " for Liverpool, and had arrived too late. 



70 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

Picton had nearly a fortnight before him in which 
to anticipate the next steamer. Picton was terri- 
bly bored with Halifax. Picton wanted to go 
somewhere — where? — "he did not care where." 
The consequence was a consultation upon the best 
disposal of a fortnight of waste time, a general sur- 
vey of the maritime craft of Halifax, the selection 
of the schooner " Balaklava," bound for Sydney in 
ballast, and an understanding with the captain, 
that the old French town of Louisburgli was the 
point we wished to arrive at, into which harbor we 
expected to be put safely — ^three hundred and 
odd miles from Halifax, and this side of Sydney 
about sixty-two miles by sea. To all this did cap- 
tain Capstan " seriously incline," and the result 
was, two berths in the " Balaklava," several cans 
of preserved meats and soups, a hamper of ale, two 
bottles of Scotch whisky, a ramshackle, Halifax 
van for the luggage, a general shaking of hands at 
departure, and another set of white sails among the 
many white sails in the blue harbor of Chebucto. 

The " Balaklava " glimmered out of the harbor. 
Slowly and gently we swept past the islands and 
great ships ; there on the shore is Point Pleasant in 
full uniform, its red soldiers and yellow tents in the 
thick of the pines and spruces ; yonder is the admi- 
ralty, and the " Boscawen " seventy-four, the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 71 

receiving-ship, a French war-steamer, and mer- 
chantmen of all flags. Slowly and gently we swept 
out past the round fort and long barracks, past the 
light-house and beaches, out upon the tranquil 
ocean, with its ominous fog-banks on the skirts of 
the horizon ; out upon the evening sea, with the 
summer air fanning our faces, and a large white 
Acadian moon, faintly defined over-head. 

Picton was a traveller ; anybody could see that 
he was a traveller, and if he had then been in any 
part of the habitable globe, in Scotland or Tartary, 
Peru or Pennsylvania, there would not have been 
the least doubt about the fact that he was a travel- 
ler travelling on his travels. He looked like a tra- 
veller, and was dressed like a traveller. He had a 
travelling-cap, a travelling-coat, a portable-desk, a 
life-preserver, a water-proof blanket, a travelling- 
shirt, a travelling green leather satchel strapped 
across his slioulder, a Minie-rifle, several trunks 
adorned with geographical railway labels of all 
colors and languages, cork-soled boots, a pocket- 
compass, and a hand-organ. As for the hand-organ, 
that was an accident in his outfit. The hand-organ 
was a present for a little boy on the other side of 
the ocean ; but nevertheless, it played its part very 
pleasantly in the cabin of the " Balaklava." And 
now let me observe here, that when we left Hali- 



72 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

fax in the schooner, I was scarcely less feeble than 
when I left 'New York. I mention it to show how 
speedily " roughing it " on the salt water will bring 
one's stomach to its senses. 

The "• Balaklava " was a fore-and-aft schooner in 
ballast, and very little ballast at that ; easily han- 
dled ; painted black outside, and pink inside ; as 
stannch a craft as ever shook sail ; very obedient to 
the rudder ; of some seventy or eighty tons bur- 
den; clean and neat everywhere, except in the 
cabin. As for her commander, he was a fine gen- 
tleman ; true, honest, brave, modest, prudent and 
courteous. Sincerely polite, for if politeness be 
only kindness mixed with refinement, then Captain 
Capstan was polite, as we understand it. The mate 
of the schooner was a cannie Scot ; by name, 
Eobert, Fitzjames, Buchanan, Wallace, Burns, 
Bruce; and Bruce was as jolly a first-mate as ever 
sailed under the cross-bones of the British flag. 
The crew was composed of four Newfoundland 
sailor men ; and the cook, whose h'eighth letter of 
the h'alphabet smacked somewhat strongly of 
li-albion. As for the rest, there was Mrs. Captain 
Capstan, Captain and Mrs. Captain Capstan's baby ; 
Picton and myself. It is cruel to speak of a baby, 
except in terms of endearment and affection, and 
therefore I could not but condemn Picton, who 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 73 

would sometimes, in liis position as a traveller, 
allude to baby in language of most emphatic cha- 
racter. The fact is, Picton swore at that baby! 
Baby was in feeble health and would sometimes 
bewail its fate as if the cabin of the " Balaklava " 
were four times the size of baby's misfortunes. 
So Picton got to be very nervous and uncharitable, 
and slept on deck after the first night. 

"How do you like this?" said Picton, as we 
leaned over the side of the " Balaklava," looking 
down at the millions of gelatinous quarls in the 
clear waters. 

" Oh ! very much ; this lazy life will soon bring 
me up ; how exhilarating the air is — ^how fresh and 
free! 

" ' A life on the ocean wave, 
A home on the rolling deep.' " 

Just then the schooner gave a lurch and shook her 
feathers alow and aloft by way of chorus. " I 
like this kind of life very much ; how gracefully 
this vessel moves ; what a beautiful union of 
strength, proportion, lightness, in the taper masts, 
the slender ropes and stays, the full spread and 
sweep of her sails ! Then how expansive the view, 
the calm ocean in its solitude, the receding land, 

the twinkling lighthouse, the " 

^' Ever been sea-sick ?" said Picton, drily. 

4 



74 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

" ISiot often. By the way, my appetite is im- 
proving ; I think Cookey is getting tea ready, by 
the smoke and the smell." 

"Likely," replied Picton; "let ns take a squint 
at the galley." 

To the galley we went, where we saw Cookey in 
great distress ; for the wind would blow in at the 
wrong end of his stove-pipe, so as to reverse the 
draft, and his stove was smoking at every seam. 
Poor Cookey's eyes were full of tears. 

" Why don't you turn the elbow of the pipe the 
other way ?" said Picton. 

" Hi av tried that," said Cookey, " but the hel- 
bow is so 'eavy the 'ole thing comes h'off." 

" Then, take off the elbow," said Picton. 

So Cookey did, and very soon tea was ready. 
Imagine a cabin, not much larger than a good-sized, 
omnibus, and far less steady in its motion, choked 
up with trunks, and a table about the size of a 
wash-stand ; imagine two stools and a locker to sit 
on ; a canvas table-cloth in full blotcli ; three 
chipped yellow mugs by way of cups ; as many 
plates, but of great variety of gap, crack, and pat- 
tern ; pewter spoons ; a blacking-bottle of milk ; 
an earthen piggin of brown sugar, embroidered 
with a lively gang of great, fat, black pismires; 
hard bread, old as Nineveh ; and butter of a most 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 75 

forbidding aspect. Imagine this array set before 
an invalid, with an appetite of the most Miss J^an- 
cjish kind ! 

" One misses the comforts here at sea," said the 
captain's lady, a pretty yonng woman, with a sweet 
Milesian accent. 

"Yes, ma'am," said I, glancing again at the 
banquet. 

" I don't rightly know," she continued, " how I 
forgot the rocking-chair ;" and she gave baby an 
afiectionate squeeze. 

" And that," said the captain, " is as bad as me 
forgetting the potatoes." 

Pic and I sat down, but we could neither eat nor 
drink ; we were very soon on deck again, sucking 
away dolefully at two precious cigars. At last he 
broke out : 

" By gad, to think of it !" 

" What is the matter ?" said I. 

" ISTot a potato on board the ' Balaklava !' " 

So we pulled away dolefully at our segars, in 
solemn silence. 

" Picton," said I, "did you ever hear 'Annie 
Laurie ? ' " 

" Yes," replied Picton, " about as many times as 
I want to hear it." 

" Don't be impolite, Picton," said I ; "it is not 



76 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

my intention to sing it this evening. Indeed, I 
never heard it before I heard it in Halifax. I had 
the good fortune to make one of a very pleasant 
company, at the house of an old friend in the city, 
and I must say that song touched me, both the song 
and the singing of it. You know it was the song in 
the Crimea ?" 

" Yes," said Picton, smoking vigorously. 

" I asked Major ," said I, " if ' Annie Laurie' 

was sung by the soldiers in the Crimea ; and he 
replied ' they did not sing anything else ; they sang 
it,' said he, ' by thousands at a time.' How does 
it go, Picton 1 Come now ! " 

So Picton held forth under the moon, and sang 
" Annie Laurie " on the " Balaklava." And long 
after we turned in, the music kept singing on — 

" Her voice is low and sweet, 

And she's all the world to me ; 
And for bonnie Annie Laurie 
I'd lay me down and dee." 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 77 



CHAPTEE lY. 

The Voyage of the " Balaklava " — Something of a Fog — A Novel 
Sensation — Picton bursts out — "Nothing to do " —Breakfast 
under Way — A Phantom Boat — Mackerel — Gone, Hook and 
Line — The Colonists— SectionaUsm and Prejudices — Cod-fish- 
ing and an Unexpected Banquet — Past the Old French Town — A 
Pretty Respectable Breeze — We get past the Rocks — Louis- 
burgh. 

"Picton!" 

" Hallo !" replied the traveller, sitting up on his 
locker ; " what is the matter now ?" 

" l^othing, only it is morning ; let ns get up, I 
want to see the sun rise out of the ocean." 

" Pooh !" replied Picton, " what do you want to 
be bothering with the sun for ?" And again Picton 
rolled himself up in his sheet-rubber travelling- 
blanket, and stretched his long body out on the 
locker. I got up, or rather got down, from my 
berth, and casting a bucket over the schooner's 
side soon made a sea- water toilet. I forgot to 
mention the sleeping arrangements of the " Balak- 
lava." There were two lower berths on one side 



78 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

the cabin, eitlier of which was large enough for two 
persons ; and two single upper berths on the other 
side, neither of which was large enough for one 
person. At the proper hour for retiring, the cap- 
tain's lady shut the cabin-door to keep out intru- 
ders, deliberately arrayed herself in dimity, turned 
in with baby in one of the large berths, and 
reopened the door. There she lay, wide awake, 
with her bright eyes twinkling within the folds of 
her night cap, unaffected, chatty, and agreeable ; 
then the captain divested himself of boots and pea- 
jacket and turned in beside his lady (the mate 
slept, when off his watch, in the other double 
berth). Picton rolled himself up in his blanket 
and stretched out on his locker ; I climbed into the 
narrow coop, over the salt beef and hard biscuit 
department ; and so we dozed and talked until sleep 
reigned over all. In the morning the ceremonies 
were reversed, with the exception of the Captain, 
who was up first. " I never see a man sleep so 
little as the captain," said Bruce ; " about two 
hoors, an' that's aw." 

The sun was already risen when I came out on 
the deck of the " Balaklava ;" but where ivas the 
sun ? Indeed, where was the ocean, or anything ? 
The schooner was barely making steerage-way, 
with a light head-wind, over a small patch of water. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 79 

not much larger apparently tlian tlie schooner her- 
self. The air was filled with a luminous haze that 
appeared to be penetrable by the eye, and yet was 
not ; that seemed at once open and dense ; near yet 
afar off; close yet diffuse ; contracted yet bound- 
less. There was no light nor shade, no outline, dis- 
tance, aerial perspective. There was no east and 
west, nor blushing Aurora, rising from old Titho- 
nus' bed ; nor blue sky, nor green sea, nor ship, nor 
shore, nor color, tint, hue, ray, or reflection. There 
was nothing visible except the sides of the vessel, a 
maze of dripping rigging, two sailors bristling Avitli 
drops, and the captain in a shiny sou-wester. Tlie 
feeling of seclusion and security was complete, 
although we might have been run down by another 
vessel at any moment; the air was deliciously 
bland, invigorating, and pregnant with life ; to 
breathe it was a transport ; you felt it in every glo- 
bule of blood, in every pore of the lungs. I could 
have hugged that fog, I was so happy ! 

Up and down the rolling deck I marched, and 
with every inspiration of the moist air, felt the old, 
tiresome, lingering sickness floating away. Then I 
was startled with a new sensation, I began to get 
hungry ! 

It was between four and five o'clock in the morn- 
ing, and the " Balaklava " did not breakfast until 



80 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

eiglit. Header, were joii ever liimgrj at sea f 
"Were you ever on deck, upon the measureless 
ocean, four liours earlier than the ring of the break- 
fast-bell ? Were you ever awake on the briny deep, 
in advance, when the cook had yet two hours to 
sleep ; when the stove in the galley was cold, and 
the kindling-wood unsplit; the coffee still in its. 
tender, green, unroasted innocence 1 Were you ever 
upon "the blue, the fresh, the ever free," imder 
these cii'cumstances ? If so, I need not say to you 
that the sentiment, then and there awakened, is 
stronger than avarice, pride, ambition or, love. 

Presently Picton burst out like a flower on deck, 
in a mass of overcoats, with an India-rubber mack- 
intosh by way of calyx. These were his night- 
clothes. Picton could do nothing except in full 
costume; he could not iish, in ever so small a 
stream, without being booted to the hips; nor 
shoot, in ever so good a cover, without being 
jacketed above the hips. He shaved himself in 
front of a silver-mounted dressing-case, wrote his 
letters on a portable secretary, drew off his boots 
with a patent boot-jack, brewed his punch with a 
peripatetic kettle, and in fact carried a little London 
with him in every quarter of the globe. " Well," 
said Picton, looking aroimd at the fog with a 
low and expressive whistle, " this is serene !" 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 81 

Althou2:li Picton used the word " serene " ironi- 
cally, just as a man riding in an omnibus and sud- 
denly discovering that he was destitute of the need- 
ful sixpence might exclaim, " This is pleasant," yet 
the phrase was not out of place. The " Balaklava " 
was gliding lazily over the water, at the rate of 
three knots an hour, sometimes giving a little lurch 
by way of shaking the wet out of her invisible 
sails, for the fog obscured all her upper canvas, and 
the mind and body easily yielded to the lullaby 
movement of the vessel. Talk of lotus-eating; of 
Castles of Indolence ; of the dreamy ether inhaled 
from amber-tubed narghile ; of poppy and mandra- 
gora, and all the drowsy syrups of the world ; of 
rain upon the mid-night roof ; the cooing of doves, 
the hush of falling snow, the murmur of brooks, the 
long summer song of grasshoppers in the field, the 
tinkling of fountains, and everything else that can 
soothe, lull, or tranquillize ; and what are these to 
the serenity of this sail-swinging, ripple-stirring, 
gently-creaking craft, in her veil of luminous 
vapor? " How delightful this is !" said I. 

Tlie traveller eyed me with surprise, but at last 
comprehending the idea, admitted, that with the 
exception of the fog and the calm, the scarcity of 
news, the damp state of the decks, and the want of 
the morning papers, it w:is very charming indeed. 

4* 



82 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

Then the traveller got a little restive, and began to 
peer closely into tlie fog, and look aloft to see if lie 
conld make ont tlie stay-sails, and then lie entered 
into a long confidential talk with the captain, in 
relation to the chances of " getting on," of a fresh 
breeze springing np, and the fog lifting; whether 
we should make Lonisbnrgh by to-morrow night, 
and if not, when ; with various other salt-water 
speculations and problems. Then Picton climbed 
up on the patent-windlass to get a full view of the 
fog at the end of the bow-sprit, and took another 
survey of the buried stay-sails, and the flying-jib. 
Then he and the Newfoundland sailor on the look- 
out, had a long consultation of great gravity and 
importance; and finally he turned around and came 
up to the place where I was standing, and broke 
out: "I say, what the devil are we to do with our- 
selves this morning ?" 

•' What are we to do ?" That eternal question. 
It instantly seemed to double the thickness of the 
fog, to arrest the slow movement of the vessel. Pic- 
ton had nothing to do for a fortnight, and I had left 
home with the sole object of going somewhere where 
soul and body could rest, "l^othing to do," was 
precisely the one thing needful. " JN^othing to do," 
is exquisite happiness, for real happiness is but a 
negation. " I^othing to do," is repose for the body, 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 83 

respite for the mind. It is an ideal hammock 
swinging in drowsy tropical groves, apart from the 
roar of the busy, relentless world ; away from the 
strife of faction, the toils of business, the restless 
stretch of ambition, wealth's tinsel pride, poverty's 
galling harness. " Nothing to do," is the phantom 
of yonng Imagination, the evanescent hope that pro- 
mises to crown 

" A youth of labor with an age of ease." 

" l^othing to do," was the charm that lured us on 
board the "Balaklava," and now "nothing to do," 
was with us like the Bottle-Imp, an incubus, still 
crying out : " You may yet exchange me for a 
smaller coin, if such there be !" " Nothing to do," is 
an imposture. Something to do is the very life of 
life, the beginning and end of being. "Picton," 
said I, " one thing we must do, at least, this morn- 
ing." 

" What is that ?" replied the traveller, eagerly 
opening his mackintosh, and drawing it off so as to 
be ready to do it. 

" Taking into consideration the slow and sleepy 
nature of this climate, the thickness of the fog, the 
faint,. thin air that impels the vessel, the early time 
of day, and the regulations of the ' Balaklava,' it 



84: ACADIA, ORAMONTH / 

seems to me we sliall have to be steadily occupied, 
for at least three hours, in waiting for breakfast." 

Then Picton got hungry ! He was a large, stout 
man, wrapped up by a multitude of garments to the 
thickness of a polar bear, and when he got hungry, 
it was on a scale of corresponding dimensions. First 
he alluded to the fact that we had gone supperless 
to bed the night before ; then he buttoned up his 
mackintosh, had a brief interview with the captain, 
shouted down the gang-way for the cook, and finally 
disappeared in the forecastle. Tlien he came up 
again with that officer, rummaged in the galley for 
the ship's hatchet, and split up all the kindling- 
wood on deck ; then he shed his petals (mackintosh 
and over-coats) and instructed Cookey in the mys- 
tery of building a fire. Then he emerged from the 
intolerable smoke he had raised in the galley, and 
devoted himself to the stove-pipe outside, Cookey, 
meanwhile, within the caboose, getting the benefit 
of all the experiments. 

At last a faint smell of cofi"ee issued forth from 
the caboose, a little Arabia breathed through the 
humid atmosphere, and a sound, as if Cookey were 
stirring the berries in a pan, was heard in the midst 
of the smoke. Meanwhile Picton descends in the 
hold with a bucket of salt-water to enjoy the luxury 
of a bath, and reappears in full toilet just as Cookey 



AVITH THE BLUE NOSES. 85 

is grinding the berries, burnt and green, with a 
hand-mill between his knees. The pan by this time 
is put to a new use ; it is now lined with bacon in 
full frizzle ; presently it will be turned to account 
as a bake-pan, for pearl-ash cakes of chrome-yellow 
complexion : everything must take its turn ; the 
pan is the actor of all work ; it accepts coffee, cakes, 
pork, fish, pudding, besides being general dish- 
washer and soup-warmer, as we found out before 
long. 

During the preparation of these successive courses, 
Picton and I sat on deck in hungry silence. [N'ow 
and then an anxious glance at the galley, or a tor- 
menting whiff of the savory viands, would give new 
life to the demon that raged within us. I believe if 
Cookey had accidentally upset the coffee tea-kettle, 
and put out the fire, his sanctuary would have been 
sacked instantly. Eight o'clock came, and yet we 
had not broken bread. Wa walked up and down 
the deck to relieve our appetites. At last we saw 
the three cracked mugs, our tea-cups, which had 
been our ale-glasses of the night before, brought up 
for a rinse, and then we knew that breakfast was 
not far off. The cloth was spread, the saffron cakes, 
ship's butter, yellow mugs, coffee, pork, and pis- 
mires tempthigly arrayed. We did not wait to 
hear the cook ring the bell. We watched him as 



8() ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

lie Clinic up witli it in liis hand, and squeezed past 
him before he shook out a single vibration. 

Then we made a Meal ! 

Breakfast being over, the fog lightened a little. 
Our tinj horizon widened its boundaries a few hun- 
dred feet, or so ; we could see once more the top- 
mast of the schooner. So we lazily swung along, 
with nothing to do again. Sometimes a distant fog- 
bell ; sometimes a distant sound across the face of 
the deep, like the falling of cataract waters. 

" What is that sound, Bruce f 

" It's the surf breakin' on the rocks," responds 
Bruce ; " I hae been listenen to it for hoors." 

" Are we then so near shore ?" 

" About three miles aff," replies the mate. 

Presently we heard the sound of human voices ; 
a laugh ; the stroke of oars in the row-locks, plainly 
distinguishable in the mysterious vapor. The cap- 
tain hailed : " Hallo !" '' Halloo !" echoes in answer. 
The strokes of the oars are louder and quicker ; 
they are approaching us, but where ? " Halloo !" 
comes again out of the mist. And again the cap- 
tain shouts in reply. Then a white phantom boat, 
thin, vapory, unsubstantial, now seen, now lost 
again, appears on the skirts of our horizon. 

" Where are we ?" asks the captain. 

" Oif St. Esprit," answer the boatmen. 



W I T I[ THE J{ L U E NOSES. 87 

" Wliat are you after ?" asks the captain. 

" Looking for oiir nets," is tlie reply ; and once 
more boat and boatmen disappear in tlie luminous 
vapor. Tliese are mackerel fishermen j tlieir nets 
are adrift from their stone-anchors : tlie fish are 
used for bait in the cod-fisheries, as well as for salt- 
ing down. K we could but come across the nets, 
what a rare treat we might have at dinner ! 

Lazily on we glide — nothing to do. Picton is read- 
ing a stunning book ; the captain, his lady,* the baby, 
and I making a small family circle around the 
wheel ; the mate is on the look-out over the bows ; 
all at once, he shouts out : " There they a/re ! the 
nets ! " Down goes Picton's book on the deck ; 
Bruce catclies up a roj^e and fastens it to a large 
iron hook ; the sailors run to the side of the vessel ; 
captain releases his forefinger from baby's hand, 
and catches the wlieel ; all is excitement in a mo- 
ment. "• Starljoard ! ^'' shouts the mate, as the nets 
come sweeping on, directly in front of the cut- 
water. The schooner obeys the wheel, sheers oif, 
and now, as the floats come along sidewise, Bruce 
has dropped his hook in the mesh — it taJces hold ! 
and the heavy mass is partially raised up in the 
water. " Thousands of them," says Picton ; sure 
enough, the whole net is alive with mackerel, 
splashing, quivering, glistening. "Catch hold here, 



88 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

I canna hold tliem ; O the beauties ! " says the 
mate. Some grasp at the rope, others look around 
for another hook. " Hauld 'em ! hauld 'em ! " 
shouts Bruce ; but the weighty piscatorial mass is 
too much for us, it will drag us desperately along 
the deck to the stern of the vessel. The schooner 
is going slowly, but still she is going. Another 
hook is rigged and thrown at the struggling mesh ; 
but it: breaks loose, the mackerel are dra2'2:in2: 
behind the rudder ; we are at our rope's end. At 
last, rope, hook, and nets are abandoned, and again 
we have nothing to do. 

High noon, and a red spot visible over-head ; the 
captain brings out his sextant to take an observa- 
tion. This proceeding we viewed with no little 
interest, and, for the humor of the thing, I borrowed 
the sextant of the captain and took a satirical view 
of a great luminary in obscurity. As I had the 
instrument upside down, the sailors were in convul- 
sions of laughter; but why should we not make 
everybody happy when we have it in our power ? 

High noon, and again hunger overtook us. Pic- 
ton, by this time, had brought out the cans of pre- 
served meats, the curried tin chicken, the portable 
soup, the ale and pickles. Tlie cook was put upon 
duty ; pot and pan were scoured for more delicate 
viands ; Picton was chef de cidsine ; we had a 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 89 

magnificent banquet that day on the " Balak- 
lava." 

To give a zest to the entertainment, the captain's 
lady dined with us ; the mate kindly undertaking 
the charge of the baby. 

When we came on deck, after a repast that 
would have been perfect but for the absence of 
potatoes, Bruce was marching up and down, dang- 
ling the baby in a way that made it appear all legs ; 
" I doan't see," said he, " hoo a wummun can lug 
a baby all day aboot in her airms ! I hae only 
carried this one half an 'our, and boath airms is 
sore. But I suppose it's naturely, it's naturely — 
everything to its nature." 

The dinner having been a success, Picton was in 
great spirits for the rest of the day. The fog 
spread its munificent halo around us, and before 
night-fall broke into myriads of white rainbows — 
sea-dogs the sailors call them — and finally lifted so 
high that we could see the spectral moon shining 
through the thin rack. Once more we sang "Annie 
Laurie ;" the traveller brought out his travelling 
blanket for a dewy slumber on deck ; the lady of 
of the "Balaklava" put on her night-cap and re- 
tired with baby to " the double berth : Bruce took 
the helm. As I was passing the light in the bin- 
nacle, I looked in at the compass for a moment. 



90 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

" She's nailed there," said the old mate. [N^ailed 
there, true to her course, as steadfast to the guiding 
rudder as truth is to religion. "We were but a few 
miles from a dangerous coast, in a vessel of the 
frailest kind, but she was " nailed there," obedient 
to man's intelligence, and that was security and 
safety. What a text to say one's prayers upon ! 

" Picton," said I, the next morning, after the 
schooner-breakfast, " it seems to me the strangest 
thing that Mrs. Capstan should have the pure Irish 
pronunciation and the mate the thorough Scotch 
brogue, although both were born in Newfoundland, 
and of Newfoundland parents. I must confess to 
no small amount of surprise at the complete isola- 
tion of the people of these colonies ; the divisions 
among them ; the separate pursuits, prejudices, lan- 
guages ; they seem to have nothing in common ; no 
aggregation of interests ; it is existence without na- 
tionality ; sectionalism without emulation ; a mere 
exotic life with not a fibre rooted firmly in the soil. 
Tlie colonists are English, Irish, Scotch, French, 
for generation after generation. Why is this, O 
Picton? Why is it that the captain's lady has 
high cheek-bones, and speaks the pure Hibernise ? 
why is the only railroad in the colony but nine and 
three-quarter miles long, and the great Shubenacadie 
Canal yet unfinished, although it was begun in the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 91 

year 1826 ; a canal fifty-three mortal miles in length, 
already engineered and laid out by nature in a 
chain of lakes, most conveniently arranged with the 
foot of each little lake at the head of the next one — 
like ' orient pearls at random strung ' — requiring 
but a few locks to be complete : the head of the 
first lake lying only twelve hundred and ten yards 
from Halifax harbor, and the Shubenacadie River 
itself at the other end, emptying in the place of des- 
tination, namely, the Basin of Minas ; a work that, 
if completed, would cut off more than three hun- 
dred miles of outside voyaging around a stormy, 
foggy, dangerous coast ; a work that was estimated 
to cost but seventy-five thousand pounds, and for 
which fifteen thousand pounds had already been 
subscribed by the government ; a work that would 
be the saving of so many vessels, crews, and cargoes 
of so much value ; a work that would traverse one 
of the most fertile countries in America ; a work 
that would bring the inland produce within a few 
hours of the sea-board ; a work so necessary, so ob- 
vious, so easily completed, that no Yankee could 
see it undone, if it were within the limits of his 
county, and have one single night's rest until the 
waters were leaping from lock to lock, from lake to 
lake in one continuous flood of prosperity from 



92 ACADIA, OK A MONTH 

Minas to Chebucto ? "Wliy is this, O traveller of tlie 
« Balaklava V " 

"The reason of it all," replied Picton, with, 
great equanimity of manner, " is entirely owing to 
the stupidity of the people here ; the British gov- 
ernment is the best government, sir, in the world ; 
it fosters, protects, and supports the colonies, with a 
sort of parental care, sir ; the colonies, sir, aiford no 
recompense to the British government for its care and 
protection, sir ; each colony is only a bill of expense, 
sir, to the mother country, and if, with all these ad- 
vantages, the people of these colonies will persist, 
sir, in being behind the age, sir, what can we do to 
prevent it, I would like to know, sir ?" 

" It does seem to me, Picton, tliis fostering, pro- 
tecting, and paying the governmental expenses of 
the colonies, is very like pampering and amusing 
a child with sweet-meats and nick-nacks, and at the 
same time keeping it in leading-strings. It is very 
certain that these colonists would not be the same 
people if their ancestors had been transplanted, a 
century or so ago, to our side of the Bay of Fundy ; 
no, not even if they had pitched their tents at the 
'jumping-off place,' as it is called — ^Eastport, for 
even there they would have produced a crop of 
pure Yankees, although grown from divers nations, 
religions, and tongues." 



WITHTHE BLUE NOSES. 93 

Here Picton turned up his lip, and smiled out of 
a little battery of sarcasm : " And you tliink," said 
he, after a pause, " that these colonists would no 
longer revel in those little prejudices and sectional- 
isms so dear to every American heart, if they were 
transplanted to your own favored coasts? Why, 
sir, there is more sectionalism in the country you 
would transport these people to, than in any one 
nation I ever heard of; every one of your States is 
a petty principality ; it has its own separate inter- 
ests ; its own bigoted boundaries ; its conventional- 
isms ; its pet laws ; and as for its prejudices, I will 
just ask you, as a candid man, not as a Yankee, but 
as a traveller like myself, a cosmopolite, if you 
please, what you think of the two great eternal 
States of Massachusetts and South Carolina, and 
whether prejudices and sectionalisms are to be 
fairly charged upon these colonies, and upon them 
only?" 

Picton, I will be frank with you. The States 
you name are looked upon as the great game-cocks 
of the Union, and we give them a tolerably large 
arena to fight their battles in. Either champion 
has flapped its wings and crowed its loudest, and 
drawn in its local backers, but the great States of 
mj country are not these two. I feel at this mo- 
ment an almost irrepressible desire to instance a 



94 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

single one as an example ; but insomnch as nobody- 
has ever flapped wing or crowed because of it, I 
will not be the first to break the silence. This 
much I will say, there are some States, and those 
the very greatest in the Union, that neither claim 
to be, nor make a merit of being provinciaV^ 

" But, even in your State, you have your stately- 
prejudices," said Picton, with a marked emphasis 
upon the " stately." 

" JSTo, sir, we have no stately prejudices, at least 
among those entitled to have them, the native-born 
citizens ; nor do I believe such prejudices exist in 
many of the States with us at home, sir." 

" But as you admit there is a sectional barrier be- 
tween your people," said Picton, " I do not see why 
our form of government is not as wise as your form 
of government." 

" The difference, Picton, is simply this : your go- 
vernment is foreign, and almost unchangeable ; ours 
is local, and mutable as the flux and reflux of the 
tide. As a consequence, sectionalism is active with 
us, and apathetic with you. Your colonists have 
nothing to care for, and we have everything to care 
for." 

"Then," said Picton, "we can sleep while you 
struggle ?" 

" Yes, Picton, that is the question — 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 95 

* Whether 'tis best to roam or rest, 
The land's lap, or the water's breast ?' 

"We think it is best to choose the active instead of the 
stagnant ; if a man cannot take part in the great 
mechanism of humanity, better to die than to sleep. 
And Picton, so far as this is concerned, so far as the 
general interests of humanity are concerned, your 
colonists are only dead m,en^ while our "stately" 
men are individually responsible, not only to their 
own kind, but to all human kind, and herein each 
form of government tells its own story." 

" I think you are rather severe upon poor Nova 
Scotia this morning," said Picton, drily. 

" You mistake me, Picton ; I do not intend to 
cast any reflections upon the people ; I am only con- 
trasting the effects produced by two different forms 
of government upon neighboring bodies of men that 
would have been alike had either a republican or 
monarchical rule obtained over both." 

" Likely," said Picton, sententiously. 

Meantime the schooner was lazily holding her 
course through the fog, which was now dense as 
ever. What an odd little bit of ocean this is to be 
on ! " The sea, the sea, the open sea," all your own, 
with a diameter of perhaps forty yards. Picton, 
who is full of activity^ begins to unroll the log line ; 
the captain turns the glass, away goes the log. 



96 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

" Stop," " not three knots !" and then comes the 
question again : " What shall we do ? — we are get- 
ting becalmed !" 

"By Jove !" said Picton, slapping his thigh, " I 
•have it — cod-fish /" 

There are plenty of hooks on board the " Balak- 
lava," and nnfortnnately only one cod-line; but 
what with the deep-sea lead-and-line, and a roll of 
blue cord, with a spike for a sinker, and the hooks, 
we are soon in the midst of excitement. I^ow we 
almost pray for a calm ; the schooner will heave 
ahead, and leave the lines astern ; but nevertheless, 
up come the fine fish, and plenty of them, too ; the 
deck is all flop and glister with cod, haddock, pol- 
lock ; and Cookey, with a short knife, is at work 
with the largest, preparing them for the banquet, 
according to the code ^Newfoundland. Certainly 
the art of " cooking a cod-fish " is not quite under- 
stood, except in this part of the world. The white 
flakes do not exhibit the true conchoidal fracture in 
such perfection elsewhere ; nor break oflF in such 
delicious morsels, edged with delicate brown. " An- 
other bottle of ale, please, and a granitic biscuit, and 
a pickle, by way of dessert." 

Lazily along swings the "Balaklava." Picton 
brings up his travelling blanket, and we stretch out 
upon it on deck, basking in the warm, humid light, 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 97 

and leisurely puffing away at our segars, for we 
have nothing else to do. Towards evening it grows 
colder, very much colder ; over-coats are in requi- 
sition ; the captain says we are nearing some ice- 
bergs ; the fog folds itself up and hangs above 
us in strips of cloud, or rolls away in volu- 
minous masses to the edges of the horizon. The 
stars peep out between the strips overhead, the 
moon sends forth her silver vapors and finally 
emerges from the " crudded clouds ;" the wake of 
the schooner is one long phosphoric trail of flame ; 
the masts are creaking, sails stretching, the waters 
pouring against the bows ; out on the deep, white 
crests lift and break, the winds are loosened, and 
now good speed to the "Balaklava." Meanwhile, 
the hitherto listless ISTewfoundland men are now 
wide awake, and busy ; the man at the wheel is on 
the alert ; the captain is looking at his charts ; Pic- 
ton and I walking the deck briskly, but unsteadily, 
to keep off the cold ; Mrs. Capstan has turned in 
with the baby. Blacker and larger waves are 
rising, with whiter crests ; on and on goes the 
schooner with dip and rise — tossing her yards as a 
stag tosses his antlers. On and on goes the brave 
" Balaklava," the captain at the bows on the look- 
out ; the sky is mottled with clouds,^ but fortunately 
there is no fog ; nine, ten o'clock, and at last a light 



98 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

begins to lift in the distance. " Is it Lonisbnrgli 
light, captain ?" " I don't make it out yet," replies 
Captain Capstan, " but I think it is not." After a 
panse, he adds : " l^ow I see what it is ; it is Scat- 
tarie light— we have passed Lonisburgh." 

This was not pleasant; we had undertaken the 
voyage for the sake of visiting the old French town. 
To be snre, it was a great disappointment. But 
then we were rapidly nearing Scattarie light ; and 
after we doubled the island, the wind would be 
right astern of us, and by breakfast time we would 
be in the harbor of Sydney. 

" Captain," said we, after a brief consultation, 
" we will leave the matter entirely to you ; although 
we had hoped to see Louisburgh this night, yet 
we can visit it overland to-morrow ; and as the wind 
is so favorable for you, why, crack on to Sydney, if 
you like." 

With that we resumed our walk to keep up the 
cireulationi 

" It is strange," said Picton, " the captain should 
have passed the light without seeing it." 

" Ever since we left Richmond," said the man at 
the wheel, "his eyes has been weak, so as he 
couldn't see as good as common." 

" Did you see the light ?" we asked. 

" Oh, yes ; I can see it now, right astern of us." 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 99 

We looked, and at last made it out : a faint, nebu- 
lous star, upon the very edge of tlie gloomy waters. 

" There is the light, captain." 

" Where ?" 

" Eight astern." 

The captain walked aft to the steersman and 
peered anxiously in the distance. Then he came 
forward again, and shouted down the forecastle; 
" Hallo, hallo, turn out there ! all hands on deck ! 
turn out, men ! turn out !" 

"What now, captain f 

" ISTothing," said he, " only I am going to about- 
ship.^^ 

And sure enough, the little schooner came up to 
the wind ; the men hauled away at the sheets, the 
sails fluttered — ^filled upon the new tack, and in a 
few minutes our bows were pointed for Louisburgh. 

The "Balaklava" had barely broadened out her 
sails to the fair wind, after she had been put about, 
when we were conscious of an increased straining 
and chirping of the masts and sails, an uneasy, labo- 
rious motion of the vessel ; of blacker and larger 
waves, of whiter and higher crests, that sometimes 
broke over the bows, even, and made the deck wet 
and slippery. The moon was now rising high, but 
the clouds were rapidly thickening, and her majesty 
seemed to be reeling from side to side, as we bore 



100 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

on, with plunge and shudder, for the light ahead of 
"US. Bruce had taken the wheel ; all hands were on 
deck, and all busy, hauling upon this rope or that, 
taking in the stay-sails and flying-jib, as the captain 
shouted out from time to time ; and looking ahead, 
with no little appearance of anxiety. 

"Ah! she's a pretty creature," said the mate; 
" look there," nodding with his head at the com- 
pass, " did'na I tell you ? She's nailed there." 
Then he broke out again : " Ay, she's a flyin' noo ; 
see hoo she's raisin^ the light P'' 

It was, indeed, surprising to see the great beacon 
rising higher and higher out of the water. 

" Is it a good harbor, Bruce ?" 

" When ye get in^'' answered the mate ; " but it's 
narrar, it's narrar ; ye can pitch a biscuit ashore as 
ye go through ; and inside o't is the * l^ag's Head,' 
a sunken bit o' rock, with about five feet water ; if 
ye mAss that, ye're aw right !" We were now ra- 
pidly approaching the beacon, and could fairly 
see the rocks and beach in the track of its light. 
On the other side there were great masses of savage 
surf, whirling high up in the night, the indications 
of the three islands on the west of the harbor. The 
captain had climbed up in the rigging to keep a 
good look-out ahead ; the light of the beacon broad- 
ened on the deck ; we were within the very jaws of 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 101 

the crags and surf; the wild ocean beating against 
the doors of the harbor; the churning, whirling, 
whistling danger on either side, lighted up by the 
glare of the beacon ! past we go, and, with a sweep, 
the "Balaklava" evades the "ITag's Head," and 
rounding too, drops sail and anchor beside the 
walls of Louisburgh. 

Then the thick fog, which had been pursuing us, 
came, and enveloped all in obscurity. 

" It is lucky," said Captain Capstan, " that it 
didn't come ten minutes sooner." 



102 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHAPTEE Y. 

Louisburgh — The Great French Fortress — Incidents of the Old 
French War — Relics of the Siege — Description of the Town — The 
two Expeditions — A Yankee ruse de guerre — The Rev. Samuel 
Moody's Grace — Wolfe's Landing — The Fisherman's Hutch — The 
Lost Coaster — The Fisheries — Picton tries his hand at a fish- 
pugh. 

l^EAELY a century lias elapsed since tlie fall of 
Louisbnrgli. The great American fortress of Louis 
XY. surrendered to Amlierst, "Wolfe, and Boscawen 
in 1758. A broken sea-wall of cut stone ; a vast 
ampMtlieatre, inclosed within a succession of green 
mounds ; a glacis ; and some miles of surrounding 
ditch, yet remain — the relics of a structure for 
which the treasury of France paid Thirty Millions 
of Livres ! 

We enter where had been the great gate, and 
walk up what had been the great avenue. The vi- 
sion follows undulating billows of green turf that 
indicate the buried walls of a once powerful mili- 
tary town. Fifteen thousand people were gathered 
in and about these walls ; six thousand troops were 
locked within this fortress, when the key turned in 
the stupendous gate. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 103 

A hundred years since, the very air of the spot 
where we now stand, vibrated with the chime of 
the church-bells and the roll of the stately organ, or 
wafted to devout multitudes the savor of holy in- 
cense, Here were congregated the soldiers, mer- 
chants, artisans of old France ; on these high walls 
paced the solemn sentry ; in these streets the nun 
stole past in her modest hood ; or the romantic dam- 
sel pressed her cheek to the latticed window, as the 
young officer rode by and, martial music jS.lled the 
avenues with its inspiring strains ; in yonder bay 
floated the great war-ships of Louis ; and around 
the shores of this harbor could be counted battery 
after battery, with scores of guns bristling Irom the 
embrasures. 

The building of this stronghold was a labor of 
twenty-five years. The stone walls rose to the 
height of thirty-six feet. In those broken arches, stud- 
ded with stalactites, those casemates, or vaults of the 
citadel, you still see some evidence of its former 
strength. You will know the citadel by them, and 
by the greater height of the mounds which mark 
the walls that once encompassed it. Within these 
stood the smaller military chapel. Think of look- 
ing down from this point upon those broad avenues, 
busy with life, a hundred years ago ! 

Neither roof nor spire remain now ; nor square 



104 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

nor street ; nor convent, churcli, or barrack. The 
green turf covers all : even the foundations of the 
houses are buried. It is a city without an inhabi- 
tant. Dismantled cannon, with the rust clinging 
in great flakes ; scattered implements of war ; bro- 
ken weapons, bayonets, gun-locks, shot, shell or 
grenade, unclaimed, untouched, corroded and cor- 
roding, in silence and desolation, with no signs of 
life visible within these once warlike parapets ex- 
cept the peaceful sheep, grazing upon the very 
brow of the citadel, are the only relics of once 
powerful Louisburgh. 

Let us recall the outlines of its history. lu the 
early part of the last century, just after the death of 
Louis XIY., these foundations were laid, and the 
town named in honor of the ruling monarch. 'Noysl 
Scotia proper had been ceded, by recent treaty, to 
the filibusters of Old and ISTew-England, but the 
ancient Island of Cape Breton still owned allegiance 
to the lilies of France. Among the beautiful and 
commodious harbors that indent the southern coast 
of the island, this one was selected as being most 
easy of access. Although naturally well adapted 
for defence, yet its fortification cost the government 
immense sums of money, insomuch as all the ma- 
terials for building had to be brought from a dis- 
tance. Belknap thus describes it : " It was environed, 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 105 

two miles and a half in circumference, with a ram- 
part of stone from thirty to thirty-six feet high, and a 
ditch eighty feet wide, with the exception of a space 
of two hundred yards near the sea, which was in- 
closed by a dyke and a line of pickets. The water 
in this place was shallow, and numerous reefs ren- 
dered it inaccessible to shipping, while it received 
an additional protection from the side-fire of the bas- 
tions. There were six-bastions and eight batteries, 
containing embrasures for one hundred and forty- 
eight cannon, of which forty-five only were mount- 
ed, and eight mortars. On an island at the en- 
trance of the harbor was planted a battery of thirty 
cannon, carrying twenty-eight pound shot ; and at 
the bottom of the harbor was a grand, or royal bat- 
tery, of twenty-eight cannon, forty-two pounders, 
and two eighteen-pounders. On a high clifi", oppo- 
site to the island-battery, stood a light house, and 
within this point, at the north-east part of the har- 
bor, was a careening wharf, secure from all winds, 
and a magazine of naval stores. The town was re- 
gularly laid out in squares ; the streets were broad 
and commodious, and the houses, which were built 
partly of wood upon stone foundations, and partly 
of more durable materials, corresponded with the 
general appearance of the place. In the centre of 
one of the chief bastions was a stone building, with 

5* 



106 A (1 A 1) I A , on A M N T IF 

a luojit oil the side iiour the town, wliicli was calkMl 
tlio citadel, tlion^li it had neither artilU>ry iu»i" a 
Btnictiire Buitable to receive any. Within llii^ 
huihliii*;" were the apartinentB of the <;()VHM-n()r, Ihe 
barracks for thi^ soldiers, and (lu^ arscuwd ; and, un- 
der the platCorni of Ihe redoubt, a uuiii;azine well 
furniBhed with nillitary stores. The parish clnireh, 
also, stood wKhin Ihe citjidel, and without was an- 
other, l)elon<;in«;' to the hospital of St. Jean dv. Dieu, 
which was an ele<j^ant. and spacious structure. The 
entrance to the town waa over a diawbridge, near 
whicli was a circular battery, niountino; sixteen 
i;uns of fourteen-pound shot." 

This eannon-studded harbor waa the naval depot 
of France^ in America, the nucleus of its military 
power, the protector of its tisheries, the key of the 
gulf of St. Lawrciu'o, the Sebaatopol of the TsTew 
World. Kor a (piartcr of a century it had been 
gatherin*ij streng-tli by slow dei;-rees: Acadia, poor 
inollensive Acadia, from time to tinu\ had been 
the prey of its rapacious neig'hbors ; but Louishnrij^h 
had i^rown amid its protecting- batteries, until Mas- 
Bachnsetts felt that it was time for the armies of (tad 
to go forth and ]nirge the threshing-floor with snch 
ecclesiastical li'on fans as tluw were wont to waft 
}>eace and good will with, wherever there was a 
line opening for proiit and editication. 



WITU THE BLUE NOSES. 107 

The first expedition against Lonisburgli was only 
justifiable upon the ground that the wants of New 
England for additional territory were pressing, and 
immediate action, under the circumstances, indis- 
penBahlc. Levies of colonial troops were made, 
both in and out of the territories of the saints. Tlie 
forces, liowever, actually employed, came from 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New TTampshire ; 
the first suj)plying three thousand two hundred, the 
second five hundred, the third three hundred men. 
The co(")peration of Commodore Warren, of the 
English West-Indian fleet, was solicited ; but the 
Commodore declined, on the ground "that the expe- 
dition was wholly a provincial affair, undertaken 
without the assent, and probably without the 
knowledge, of the ministry." But Governor Shirley 
was not a man to stop at trifles. He had a heart 
of lignum vita), a rigid anti-])api8tical conscience, 
beetle brows, and an eye to the cod-fisheries. 
Higher authority than international law was pressed 
into the service. George Whitefield, then an 
itinerant preacher in New-England, furnished the 
necessary warrant for the expedition, by giving a 
motto for its banner : " Nil despermidum (Jhrinto 
duce " — Nothing is to be despaired of with Christ 
for leader. The command was, however, given to 
William Peppercl, a fish and shingle merchant 



108 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

of Maine. One of lUo chaphuiii^ of the lililnistors 
carriod a luvtohot spocially sharpoiiod, to how- 
down iho woodon iniagos in (ho obnivlios of Loiiis- 
bnvirh. Kvorvlhino; that was noodod to oncourai2:o 
and oboor tho t^aints, was provided bv Ciovernor 
8hirU\v, espeeiallv a goodly store of New Kngbiud 
runv, and the Ivev. iSaniuel Moody, the lengthiest 
preacher in the eoK^nies. Lonisbnrgb, at (bat time 
feebly garrisoned, held out bravely in spite oC the 
fonuidable array eoneentrated against it. In vain 
the Ivev. Sanuiel "Moody t>reaebed to its high stone 
walls; in vain the ieonoelast v'haplain brandished 
bis eeelesiastieal ha(ehet ; in vain Whiietleld's ban- 
ner (laun(ed (o (he wind. The fortress held ont 
ajrainst shot and shell, sain(, tlai:,- and sermon. 
New England ingenuity tinally eireuniveuted FAniis- 
burgb. llunuliating as ihe confession is, it must 
be admitted that our pious I'orelathers did actually 
abandon '* Ouiasro duee," and useil instead a little 
>vorldly artifice. 

Commodore Warren, who had declined taking a 
part in the siege of Louisburgh, on account of tho 
regidations of the service, had received, after the 
depart\ire o\' the e\}>edition, instructions to keep a 
look-out t*or the interests o( his majesty in North 
America, which oC course could be readily inter- 
pi\>ted, by an experienced otUcer in his majesty's 



WITH THE HLUE NOSES. 109 

sorvico, to moan procisoly vvluit was luoant to bo 
meant. Aa a conBccpionco, Connnodoro Warren 
was speedily on tlio look-out, oil' tlio coast of Capo 
Breton, and in tlio course of events fell in with, and 
captured, the " Viijjilant," seventy-four, commanded 
by Captain Stron«2:liou8e, or, as liis title runs, "the 
Marcpiis do la Maison Forte." The "Vigilant" was 
a store-ship, lilled with munitions of war for tho 
French town. Hero was a glorious opportunity. 
If tho saints could only Intimate to Duchambon, 
the Governor of Lonisbnrgli, that his su])])lies 
had been cut oil", Duchambon might think ol' 
capitulation. Ihit nnfortunate'ly the French were 
prejudiced against the saints, and would not believe 
them under oalh. But when probity fails, a little 
ingenuity and artiiice will do (piite as well. Tho 
chief of the ex|)editi()n was e(pial to the emergency. 
lie took the Manpiis of Stronghouse to the diilerent 
ships on the station, where ihe Fi-ench prisoners 
were confined, and showed him that they were 
treated with great civility ; then he represented to 
the Marcpiis that the New England prisoners were 
cruelly dealt with in tlie fortress of Louislmrgh ; 
and re(piested him to write; a lettcM-, in the name ol' 
humanity, to Duchambon, Governor, in behali' of 
those suffering saints ; " expressing his aj)i)robation 
of the conduct of the English, and entreating similar 



110 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

usuage for those whom the fortune of war had 
thrown in his hands." The Marqnis wrote the let- 
ter ; thus it begins : " On board the ' Yigilant,' " 
where I am a prisoner^ before Lonisbnrgh, June 
thirteen, 1745." The rest of the letter is unimport- 
ant. Tlie confession of Captain Stronghouse, that 
he was a prisoner, was the point ; and the conse- 
quences thereof, which had been foreseen by the 
filibustering besiegers, speedily followed. In three 
days Louisburgh capitulated. 

Then the Rev. Samuel Moody greatly distin- 
guished himself. He was a painful preacher ; the 
most untiring, persevering, long-winded, clamorous, 
pertinacious vessel at craving a blessing, in the 
provinces. There was a great feast in honor of the 
occasion. But more formidable than the siege 
itself, was the anticipated " grace " of Brother 
Moody. New England held its breath when he 
began, and thus the Reverend Samuel: "Good 
Lord, we have so many things to thank Thee for, 
that time will be infinitely too short to do it ; we 
must therefore leave it for the work of eter- 
nity." 

Upon this there was great rejoicing, yea, more 
than there had been upon the capture of the 
French stronghold. Who shall say whether Brother 
Moody's brevity may not stretch farther across the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. Ill 

intervals of time than the longest preaching ever 
preached by mortal preacher ? 

In three years after its capture, Lonisbnrgh was 
restored to the French by the treaty of Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle. Ten years after its restoration, a heavier 
armament, a greater fleet, a more numerous army, 
besieged its almost impregnable walls. Under 
Amherst, Boscawen, and Wolfe, no less than twenty- 
three ships of war, eighteen frigates, sixteen thou- 
sand land forces, with a proportionable train of 
cannon and mortars, w^ere arrayed against this 
great fortress in the year 1758. Here, too, many of 
our own ancestral warriors were gathered in that 
memorable conflict ; here Gridley, who afterwards 
planned the redoubt at Bunker Hill, won his first 
laurels as an engineer ; here Pomeroy distinguished 
himself, and others whose names are not recorded, 
but whose deeds survive in the history of a repub- 
lic. The very drum that beat to arms before Louis- 
burgh was braced again when the greater drama of 
the Bevolution opened at Concord and Lexington. 

The siege continued for nearly two months. 
From June 8th until July 26th, the storm of iron 
and fire — of rocket, shot, and shell — swept from 
yonder batteries, upon the castellated city. Then 
when the King's, the Queen's, the Dauphin's bas- 
tions were lying in ruins, the commander, Le Cheva- 



112 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

lier de Drucour, capitulated, and the lilies of the 
Bourbon waved over Lonisbnrgh no more. 

And here we stand nearly a century after, look- 
ing out from these war-works upon the desolate 
harbor. At the entrance, the wrecks of three 
French frigates, sunk to prevent the ingress of the 
British fleet, yet remain ; sometimes visited by our 
still enterprising countrymen, who come down in 
coasters with diving-bell and windlass, to raise 
again from the deep, imbedded in sea-shells, the 
great guns that have slept in the ooze so long. Be- 
tween those two points lay the ships of the line, 
and frigates of Louis ; opposite, where the parapets 
of stone are yet visible, was the grand battery of 
forty guns : at Lighthouse Point yonder, two 
thousand grenadiers, under General Wolfe, drove 
back the French artillerymen, and turned their 
cannon upon these mighty walls. Here the great 
seventy-four blew up ; there the English boats were 
sunk by the guns "of the fortress ; day and night for 
many weeks this ground has shuddered with the 
thunders of the cannonade. 

And what of all this ? we may ask. What of the 
ships that were sunk, and those that floated away 
with the booty ? What of the soldiers that fell by 
hundreds here, and those that lived ? What of the 
prisoners that mourned, and the captors that 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 113 

triumphed ? Wliat of the flash of artillery, and the 
shattered wall that answered it ? Has any benefit 
resulted to mankind from this brilliant achieve- 
ment ? Can any man, of any nation, stand here and 
say : " This work was wrought to my profit ?" Can 
any man draw such a breath here amid these buried 
walls, as he can upon the humblest sod that ever 
was wet with the blood of patriotism ? I trow not. 

A second time in possession of this stronghold, 
England had not the means to maintain her con- 
quest; the fortification was too large for any but a 
powerful garrison. A hundred war-ships had con- 
gregated in that harbor ; frigates, seventy-fours, 
transports, sloops, under the Flewr-de-lis. Although 
Louisburgh was the pivot-point of the French pos- 
sessions, yet it was but an outside harbor for the 
colonies. So the order went forth to destroy the 
town that had been reared with so much cost, and 
captured with so much sacrifice. And it took two 
solid years of gunpowder to blow up these im- 
mense walls, upon which we now sadly stand, O 
gentle reader ! Turf, turf, turf covers all! The 
gloomiest spectacle the sight of man can dwell 
upon is the desolate, but once populous, abode of 
humanity. Egypt itself is cheerful compared with 
Louisburgh ! 

" It rains," said Picton. 



114 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

It had rained all the morning; bnt what did 
that matter when a hundred years since was in 
one's mind? Picton, in his mackintosh, was an 
impervious representative of the nineteenth cen- 
tury ; but I was as fully saturated with water as if 
I were living in the place under the old French 
regime. 

" Let us go down," said Picton, " and see the 
jolly old fishermen outside the walls. What is the 
use of staying here in the rain after you have seen 
all that can be seen ? Come along. Just think 
how serene it will be if we can get some milk and 
potatoes down there. 

There are about a dozen fishermen's huts on the 
beach outside the walls of the old town of Louis- 
burgh. When you enter one it reminds you of the 
descriptive play-bill of the melo-drama — " Scene Jl. : 
Literior of a Fisherman's Cottage on the Sea-shore : 
Ocean in the Distance." The walls are built of 
heavy timbers, laid one upon another, and caulked 
with moss or oakum. Overhead are square beams, 
with pegs for nets, poles, guns, boots, the heteroge- 
neous and picturesque tackle with which such ceil- 
ings are usually ornamented. But oh ! how clean 
everything is ! The knots are fairly scrubbed out 
of the fioor-planks, the hearth-bricks red as cherries, 
the dresser-shelves worn thin with soap and sand, 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 115 

and white as the sand with which they have been 
scoured. I never saw drawing-room that could 
compare with the purity of that interior. It was 
cleanliness itself; but I saw many such before 
I left Louisburgh, in both the old town and the 
new. 

We sat down in the " hutch," as they call it, be- 
fore a cheery wood-fire, and soon forgot all about 
the outside rain. But if we had shut out the rain, 
we had not shut out the neighboring Atlantic. 
That was near enough ; the thunderous surf, whirl- 
ing, pouring, breaking against the rocky shore and 
islands, was sounding in our ears, and we could see 
the great white masses of foam lifted against the sky 
from the window of the hutch, as we sat before the 
warm fire. 

" You was lucky to get in last night," said the 
master of the hutch, an old, weather-beaten fisher- 
man. 

" Yes," replied Picton, surveying the grey head 
before him with as much complacency as he would 
a turnip ; " and a serene old place it is when we 
get in." 

To this the weather-beaten replied by winking 
twice with both eyes. 

" Eather a dangerous coast," continued Picton, 
stretching out one thigh before the fire. " I say. 



116 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

don't you fisliernieii often lose your lives out 
there?" and he pointed to the mouth of the har- 
bor. 

" There was only two lives lost in seventy years^'' 
replied the old man (this remarkable fact was con- 
firmed by many persons of whom we asked the 
same question during our visit), " and one of them 
was a young man, a stranger here, who was cap- 
sized in a boat as he was going out to a vessel in 
the harbor." 

" You are speaking now of lives lost in the fishe- 
ries," said Picton, " not in the coasting trade." 

" Oh !" replied the old man, shaking his head, 
" the coasting trade is different ; there is a many 
lives lost in that. Last year I had a brother as 
sailed out of this in a shallop, on the same day as 
yon vessel," pointing to the Balaklava ; " he 
went out in company with your captain ; he was 
going to his wedding, he thought, poor fellow, for 
he was to bring a young wife home with him from 
Halifax, but he got caught in a storm off Canseau, 
and we never heard of the shallop again. He was 
my youngest brother, gentlemen." 

It was strange to be seated in that old cottage, 
listening to so dreary a story, and watching the 
storm outside. There was a wonderful fascination 
in it, nevertheless, and I was not a little loth to 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 117 

leave the bright hearth when the sailors from the 
schooner came for ns and carried us on board again 
to dinner. 

The storm continued ; but Picton and I found 
i:>lenty to do that day. Equipped with oil-skin pea- 
jackets and sou'-westers, with a couple ofjlsh-pnghs, 
or poles, pointed with iron, we started on a cruise 
after lobsters, in a sort of flat-bottomed skiff, pecu- 
liar to the place, called a dingledekoocTi. And 
although we did not catch one lobster, yet we did 
not lose sight of many interesting particulars that 
were scattered around the harbor. And first of the 
fisheries. All the people here are directly or indi- 
rectly engaged in this business, and to this they 
devote themselves entirely ; farming being scarcely 
thought of. I doubt whether there is a plough in 
the place ; certainly there was not a horse, in either 
the old or new town, or a vehicle of any kind, as 
we found out betimes. 

The fishing here, as in all other places along the 
coast, is carried on in small, clinker-built boats, 
sharp at both ends, and carrying two sails. It is 
marvellous with what dexterity these boats are han- 
dled ; they are out in all weathers, and at all 
times, night or day, as it happens, and although 
sometimes loaded to the gunwale with fish, yet 
they encounter the roughest gales, and ride out 



118 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

storms in safety, that would be perilous to the 
largest vessels. 

" I can cany all sail," said one old fellow, " when 
the captain there would have to take in every rag 
on the schooner." 

And such, too, was the fact. These boats usually 
sail a few miles from the shore, rarely beyond 
twelve ; the fish are taken with hand-lines generally, 
but sometimes a set line with buoys and an- 
chors is used. The fish are cured on flakes^ or high 
platforms, raised upon poles from the beach, so that 
one end of the staging is over the water. The cod 
are thrown up from the boat to the flake by means 
of the fish-pugh — a sort of one-pronged, piscatory 
pitchfork — and cleaned, salted, and cured there ; 
then spread out to dry on the fiake, or on the beach, 
and packed for market. JSFothing can 1)6 neater and 
cleaner than the lohole system of curing the fish ! 
popular opinion to the contrary notwithstanding. 
The fishermen of Louisburgh are a happy, con- 
tented, kind, and simple people. Living, as they 
do, far from the jarring interests of the busy world, 
having a common revenue, for the ocean supplies 
each and all alike ; pursuing an occupation which 
is constant discipline for body and soul ; brave, sin- 
cere, and hospitable by nature, for all of these vir- 
tues are inseparable from their relations to each 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 119 

other ; one can scarcely be with them, no matter 
how brief the visit, without feeling a kindred sym- 
pathy ; without having a vague thought of " some- 
time I may be only too glad to escape from the 
world and accept this humble happiness instead ;" 
without a dreamy idea of " Perliaps this^ after all, 
is the real Arcadia!" 

While I was indulging in these reflections, it was 
amusing to see Picton at work ! The heads and en- 
trails of the cod-fish, thrown from the " flakes " into 
the water, attract thousands of the baser tribes, such 
as sculpins, flounders, and toad-fish, who feed them- 
selves fat upon the offals, and enjoy a peaceful life 
under the clear waters of the harbor. As the din- 
gledekooch floated silently over them, they lay per- 
fectly quiet and unsuspicious of danger, although 
within a few feet of the fatal fish-pugh, and in an 
element almost as transparent as air. Lobster, dur- 
ing the storm, had gone off to other grounds ; but 
here were great flat flounders and sculpin, within 
reach of the indefatigable Picton. Down went the 
fish-pugh and up came the game ! The bottom of 
the skiff was soon covered with the spearings of the 
traveller. Great flounders, those sub-marine buck- 
wheat cakes ; sculpins, bloated with rage and wind, 
like patriots out of oflace ; toad-flsh, savage and vin- 
dictive as L'ishmen in a riot. Down went the fish- 



120 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

pngli ! It was rare sport, and no person could have 
enjoyed it more tlian Picton — except perhaps some 
of the veteran fishermen of Lonisbm-gh, who were 
gathered on the beach watching the doings in the 
dingledekooch. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 121 



CHAPTEE VI. 

A most acceptable Invitation — An Evening in the Hutch — Old 
Songs — Picton in High Feather — Wolfe and Montcalm — Remi- 
niscences of the Siege — Anecdotes of Wolfe — A Touch of Rhe- 
toric and its Consequences, 

QiHTE a little crowd of fishermen gathered around 
us, as the dingledekooch ran bows on the beach, and 
Picton, warm with exercise and excitement, leaped 
ashore, flourishing his piscatorial javelin with an air 
of triumph, which oddly contrasted with the faces 
of the Louisburghers, who looked at him and at his 
game, with countenances of great gravity — either 
real or assumed. Presently, another boat ran bows 
on the beach beside our own, and from this jumped 
Bruce, our jolly first mate, who had come ashore to 
spend a few hours with an old friend, at one of the 
hutches. To this we were hosj^itably invited also, 
and were right glad to uncase our limbs of stiff oil- 
skin and doff our sou'-westers, and sit down before 
the cheery fire, piled up with spruce logs and hack- 
matack ; comfortable, indeed, was it to be thus 
snugly housed, while the weather outside was so 
lowering, and the schooner wet and cold with rain. 

6 



122 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

To be Biire, our gay and festive hall was not so bril- 
liant as some, but it was none the less acceptable 
on that account; and, before long, a fragrant rasber 
of bacon, fresh eggs, white bread, and a strong cup 
of bitter tea made us feel entirely happy. Then 
these viands being removed, there came pipes and 
tobacco; and as something else was needed to crown 
the symposium, Picton whispered a word in the ear 
of Bruce, who presently disappeared, to return 
again after a brief absence, with some of our stores 
from the schooner. Then the table was decked 
again, with china mugs of dazzling whiteness, le- 
mons, hot water, and a bottle of old Glenlivet ; and 
from the centre of this gallant show, the " one great 
lamp of the hutch cast its mellow radiance around, 
and nursed in the midst of its flame a great ball of 
red coal that burned like a bonfire. Tlien, when 
our host, the old fisherman, brought out a bundle 
of warm furs, of moose and cariboo skins, and dis- 
tributed them around on the settles and broad, high- 
backed benches, so that we could loll at our ease, 
we began to realize a sense of being quite snug and 
cozy, and, indeed, got used to it in a surprisingly 
short space of time. 

" iSoWy then," said Picton, " this is what I call 
serene," and the traveller relapsed into his usual 
activity ; after a brief respite — " I say, give us a 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 123 

song, will you, now, some of you ; something about 
this jolly old place, now — ' Brave Wolfe,' or 'Bos- 
cawen,' " and he broke out — 

" ' My name d'ye see's Tom Tough, I've seen a little sarvice, 
Where mighty billows roll and loud tempests blow ; 
I've sailed with noble Howe, and I've sailed with noble Jarvis, 
And in Admiral Duncan's fleet I've sung yeo, heave, yeo ! 
And more ye must be knowin', 
I was cox'son to Boscawen 
When our fleet attacked Louisburgh, 

And laid her bulwarks low. 
But push about the grog, boys ! 
Hang care, it killed a cat, 
Push about the grog, and sing — 
Yeo, heave, yeo !' " 

" Good Lord !" said the old fisherman, " I harn't 
heard that song for more'n thirty years. Sing us 
another bit of it, please." 

But Picton had not another bit of it ; so he called 
lustily for some one else to sing. " Hang it, sing 
something," said the traveller. " ' How stands the 
glass around ;' that, you know, was written by 
Wolfe ; at least, it was sung by him the night be- 
fore the battle of Quebec, and they call it Wolfe's 
death song — 

' How stands the glass around? 

For shame, ye take no care, my boys ! 
How stands the glass around ?' " 



124 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

Here Picton forgot the next line, and substituted a 
drink for it, in correct time witli the music ; 

" ' The trumpets sound ; 

The colors flying are, my boys, 
To fight, kill, or wound ' " 

Another slip of the memory [drink] : 

" ' May we still be found,' " 

He has found it, and repeats emphatically ; 

" ' May we still be found ! 

Content with our hard fare, my boys, 

[all drink] 
On the cold ground !' 

" Then there is another song," said Picton, light- 
ing his pipe with coal and tongs ; " ' Wolfe and 
Montcalm ' — ^you must know that," he continued, 
addressing the old fisherman. But the ancient tri- 
lobite did not know it ; indeed, he was not a singer, 
so Picton trolled lustily forth — 

" ' He lifted up his head, 

While the cannons did rattle, 
To his aid de camp he said, 

' How goes the battail ?' 
The aid de camp, he cried, 

' 'Tis in our favor f 
* Oh ! then,' brave Wolfe replied, 

* I die with pleasure !' " 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 125 

"There," said Picton, throwing himself back 
upon the warm and cosj furs, " I am at the end of 
my rope, gentlemen. Sing away, some of you," 
and the traveller drew a long spiral of smoke 
through his tube, and ejected it in a succession of 
beautiful rings at the beams overhead. 

"Picton," said I, "what a strange, romantic in- 
terest attaches itself to the memory of Wolfe. The 
very song you have sung, ' How stands the glass 
around,' although not written by him, for it was 
composed before he was born, yet has a currency 
from the popular belief that he sang it on the even- 
ing preceding his last battle. And, indeed, it is by 
no means certain that Gray's Elegy does not derive 
additional interest from a kindred tradition." 

" What is that ?" said the traveller. 

" Of course you will remember it. When Gray 
had completed the Elegy, he sent a copy of it to his 
friend, General Wolfe, in America ; and the story 
goes, that as the great hero was sitting, wrapped in 
his military cloak, on board the barge which the 
sailors were rowing up the St. Lawrence, towards 
Quebec, he produced the poem, and read it in 
silence by the waning light of approaching evening, 
until he came to these lines, which he repeated 
aloud to his officers : 



126 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

* The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
AwaiUalike the inevitable hour ' 

Then pausing for a moment, lie finislied the stanza : 

* The paths of glory lead but to the grave.' " 

" Gentlemen," he added, " I would rather be the 
writer of this poem, than the greatest conqueror the 
world ever produced." 

"That's true," said the old fisherman, senten- 
tiously. " "We are all bound to that place, some- 
time or other." 

" What place ?" said Picton, rousing up. 

" The berrying-ground," answered the ancient ; 
" that is if we don't get overboard instead." 

" But," he continued, " since you are speaking 
of General Wolfe, you must know my grandfather 
served under him at Minden, and at the battle here, 
too, where he was wounded, and left behind, when 
the general went back to England." 

" I thought he went from this place to Quebec," 
said Picton. 

" l!^o, sir," replied the old man, " he went first to 
London, and came back again, and then went to 
Canada. Well," he continued, "my grandfather 
served under him, and was left here to get over his 
wownds, and so he married my grandmother, and 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 127 

lived in Louisburgh after tlie French were all 6ent 
away." Here the veteran placed his paws on the 
table, and looked out into the infinite. We could 
see we were in for a long story. " All the French 
soldiers and sailors, you see, were sent to England 
prisoners of war — and the rest of the people were 
sent to France ; the governor of this here place was 
named Drucour ; he was taken to Southampton, and 
put in prison. Well now, as I was saying, this 
hutch of mine was built by my father, just here by 
Wolfe's landing, for grandfather took a fancy to 
have it built on this spot ; you see, Wolfe rowed 
over one night in a boat all alone from Lighthouse 
point yonder, and stood on the beach right under 
this here old wall, looking straight up at the French 
sentry over his head, and taking a general look at 
the town on both sides. There wasn't a man in 
all his soldiers who would have stood there at that 
time for a thousand pounds." 

"What do you suppose the old file was doing 
over here?" inquired Picton, who was getting 
sleepy. 

" I don't know," answered our host, " except it 
was his daring. He was the bravest man of his 
time, I've heard say — and so young " 

" Two and thretty only," said Bruce. 

" And a tall, elegant officer, too," continued the 



128 ACADIA, OE A MONTH 

ancient fisherman. " I've heard tell how the French 
governor's lady used to send him sweetmeats with 
a flag of truce, and he used to return his cpmpli- 
ments and a pine apple, or something of that kind. 
Ah, he was a great favorite with the ladies ! I've 
heard say, he was much admired for his elegant 
style of dancing, and always ambitious to have a 
tall and graceful lady for his partner, and then he 
was as much pleased as if he was in the thick of the 
fight. He was a great favorite with the soldiers, 
too ; very careful of them, to see they were well 
nursed when they were sick, and sharing the 
worst and the best with them ; but my grandfather 
used to say, very strict, too." 

" Who was in command here, Wolfe or Am- 
herst ?" 

" General Amherst was in command, and got the 
credit of it, too ; but Wolfe did the fighting — so 
grandfather used to say." 

" What was the name of his leddy in the old 
country ?" said Bruce. 

" I do not remember," replied the ancient, " but 
I've heard it. You know he was to be married, 
when he got back to England. And when the first 
shot struck him in the wrist, at Quebec, he took out 
her handkerchief from his breast-pocket, smiled, 
wrapped it about the place, and went on with the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 129 

battle as if nothing had happened. But, soon after 
he got another wonnd, and yet he wasn't dis- 
heartened; but waved his ratan over his head, for 
none of the officers carried swords there, and kept 
on, until the third bullet went through and through 
his breast, when he fell back, and just breathed like, 
till word was brought that the French were retreat- 
ing, when he said, then ' I am content,' and so 
closed his eyes and died." 

Here there was a pause. Our entertainer, wav- 
ing his hand towards our mugs of Glenlivet, by way 
of invitation, lifted his own to his mouth by the han- 
dle, and with a dexterous tilt that showed practice, 
turned its bottom towards the beams of the hutch. 

" Do you remember any farther particulars of the 
siege of Louisburgh ?" I asked. 

"Oh, yes," replied the old man, "I remember 
grandfather telling us how he saw the bodies of fif- 
teen or sixteen deserters hanging over the walls ; 
they were Germans that had been sold to the 
French, four years before the war, by a Prussian 
colonel. Some of them got away, and came over 
to our side. He used to say, the old town looked 
like a big ship when they came up to it ; it had two 
tiers of guns, one above the other, on the south — 
that is towards Gabarus bay, where our troops 
landed. And now I mind me of his telling that 

6* 



130 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

when they landed at Gabarus, they had a hard 
fight with the French and Indians, nntil Col. 
Eraser's regiment of Highlanders jumped over- 
board, and swam to a point on the rocks, 
and drove the enemy away with their broad- 
swords." 

"That was the 63d Highlanders," said Bruce, 
with immense gravity. 

"Among the Indians killed at Gabarus," con- 
tinued our host, " they say there was one Micmac 
chief, who was six feet nine inches high. Tlie 
French soldiers were very much frightened when 
the Highland men climbed up on the rocks ; they 
called them English savages." 

" That showed," said Bruce, " what a dommed 
ignorant set they were !" 

" And, while I think of it," added our host, rising 
from his seat, " I have a bit of the old time to show 
you," and so saying, he retreated from the table, 
and presently brought forth a curious oak box from 
a mysterious corner of the hutch, and after some 
difficulty in drawing out the sliding cover, produced 
a roll of tawny newspapers, tied up with rope yarn, 
a colored wood engraving in a black frame — a por- 
trait, with the inscription, "James Wolfe, Esq'r, 
Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Forces in the 
Expedition to Quebec," and on the reverse the fol- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES.' 131 

lowing scrap from the London Chronicle of October 
7, 1759 ; 

" Amidst her conquests let Britannia groan 
For Wolfe ! her gallant, her undaunted son ; 
For Wolfe, whose breast bright Honor did inspire 
With patriot ardor and heroic fire ; 
For Wolfe, who headed that intrepid band, 
Who, greatly daring, forced Cape Breton's strand ; 
For Wolfe, who following still where glory call'd, 
No dangers daunted, no distress appall'd; 
Whose eager zeal disasters could not check, 
Intent to strike the blow which gained Quebec. 
For Wolfe, who, like the gallant Theban, dy'd 
In th' arms of victory — his country's pride." 

This inscription I read alond, and then, nnder the 
influence of the loquacious potable, leaned back in 
my furry throne, crossed my hands over my forehead, 
looked steadily into the blazing fire-place, and con- 
tinued the theme I had commenced an hour before. 

" What a strange interest attaches itself to the 
memory of Wolfe ! A youthful hero, who, under 
less happy auspices, might have been known only 
as the competent drill-master of regiments, elevated 
by the sagacity of England's wisest statesman to a 
prominent position of command ; there to exhibit his 
generalship ; there to retrieve the long list of dis- 
asters which followed Braddock's defeat ; there to 
annihilate forever every vestige of French dominion 



132 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

in the Americas ; to fulfill gloriously eacli point of 
Ms mission ; to acliieye, not b j long delays, bnt by 
rapid movements, the conquest of two of the great- 
est fortresses in the possession of the rival crown ; 
to pass from the world amid the shouts of victory — 
content in the fullness of his fame, without outliv- 
ing it ! His was a noble, generous nature ; brave 
without cruelty; ardent and warlike, yet not insensi- 
ble to the tenderest impulses of humanity. To die 
betrothed and beloved, yet wedded only to immor- 
tal honor ; to leave a mother, with a nation weep- 
ing at her feet ; to serve his country, without hav- 
ing his patriotism contaminated by titles, crosses, 
and ribbons ; this was the most fortunate fate of 
England's greatest commander in the colonies ! ]^o 
wonder, then, that with a grateful sympathy the 
laurels of his mother country were woven with the 
cypress of her chivalric son ; that hundreds of pens 
were inspired to pay some tribute to his memory ; 
that every branch of representative art, from stone 
to ink, essayed to portray his living likeness ; that 
parliament and pulpit, with words of eloquence and 
gratitude, uttered the universal sentiment ! 

" Brave "Wolfe," I continued, " whose memory 
is linked with his no less youthful rival, Mont- 
calm" here I was interrupted by the voice of 

the mate of the Balaklava — 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 133 

" I'll be dommed," said he, " if some person isn't 
afire !" 

Then I unclasped my hands, opened my eyes, 
and looked around me. 

The scene was a striking one. Right before me, 
with his grey head on the table, buried in his pis- 
catorial paws, lay the master of the hutch, fast 
asleep. On a settle, one of the fishermen, who had 
been a devout listener to all the legends of the 
grandson of the veteran of Louisburgh, was in a 
similar condition ; Bruce, our jolly first mate, with 
the pertinacity of his race, was wide awake, to be 
sure, but there were unmistakable signs of drowsi- 
ness in the droop of his eyelids ; and Picton ? That 
gentleman, buried in moose and cariboo skins, pros- 
trate on a broad bench, di*awn up close by the fire- 
place, was dreaming, probably, of sculpins, floun- 
ders, fish-pugh, and dingledekooch ! 

" I say ! wake up here !" said the jolly mate of 
the Balaklava ; bringing his fist down upon the 
table with an emphatic blow, that roused all the 
sleepers except the traveller. " I say, wake up !" 
reiterated Bruce, shaking Picton by the shoulder. 
Tlien PictoD raised himself from his couch, and 
yawned twice ; walked to the table, seated himself 
on a bench, thrust his fingers thi-ough his black 
hair, and instantly fell asleep again, after shaking 



134: ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

out into the close atinospliere of tlioliutcli a stifling 
odor of auiuuil charcoal. 

" A little straw makes a great reek," said Bruce, 
laughing, '^ and when a nion gives out before his 
pipe, he is like to be burnet,'' and he pointed to a 
louiT bhick and brown sino-e on the worsted com- 
forter of the traveller, by which we understood that 
Picton had fallen asleep, pipe in mouth, and tJieu 
dropped his lighted duiken just on the safest pai't 
of his neck. 

Once again we roused the sleeper ; and so, shak- 
ing hands with our hospitable host, we left the com- 
fortable hutch at Wolfe's Landing, and were soon 
on our way to the jolly little schooner. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 135 



CHAPTER VII. 

The other side of the Harbor — A Foraging Party — Disappointment 
— Twilight at Louisburgh — Long Day3 and Early Mornings — A 
Visit and View of an Interior — A Shark Story — Picton inquires 
about a Measure — Hospitality and the Two Bravo Boys — Pro- 
posals for a Trip overland to Sydney. 

To nuikc use of a quaint but expressive plirase, 
"it is patent enough,-' that travellers are likely to 
consume more time in reaching a place than they 
are apt to bestow upon it when found. And, I am 
ashamed to say, that even Louisburgh was not an 
exception to this general truth ; although perhaps 
certain reasons niiirht be ofiered in extenuation for 
our somewhat speedy departure from the precincts 
of the old town. First, then, the uncertainty of a 
sailing vessel, for the " Balaklava" was coquettishly 
courting any and every wind that could carry her 
out of our harbor of refuge. Next, the desire of 
seeing more of the surroundings of the ancient for- 
tress — the batteries on the opposite side, the' new 
town, the lighthouse, and the wild picturesque 
coast. Add to these the wish of our captain to 



136 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

shift his anchorage, to get on the side where he 
wonld have a better opening towards the ocean, 
" when the wind came onto blow," — ^to say nothing 
of being in the neighborhood of his old friends, 
whose cottages dotted the green hill-sides across the 
bay, as you looked over the bows of the jolly little 
schooner. And there might have been other 
inducements — such as the hope of getting a few 
pounds of white sugar, a pitcher of milk (delicious, 
lacteous fluid, for which we had yearned so often 
amid the briny waves) ; and last, but not least, a 
hamper of blue-nosed potatoes. So, when the shades 
of the second evening were gathering grandly 
and gloomily around the dismantled parapets, and 
Louisburgh lay in all the lovely and romantic light 
of a red and stormy sunset, it seemed but fitting 
that the cable-chain of the anchor should clank to 
the windlass, and the die-away song of the mariner 
should resound above the calm waters, and the can- 
vas stretch towards the land opposite, that seemed 
so tempting and delectable. And presently the 
" Balaklava " bore away across the red and purple 
harbor for the new town, leaving in her wake the 
ruined walls of Louisburgh that rose up higher the 
further we sailed from them. 

The schooner dropped anchor inside the little 
cove on the opposite side of the old town, which 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 137 

the reader will see by referring to the map ; and 
the old battles of the years '45 and '58 were pre- 
sently forgotten in the new aspects that were pre- 
sented. The anchor was scarcely dropped fairly, 
before the yawl-boat was under the stroke of the 
oars, and Picton and I en route for the store-house ; 
the general, particular, and only exchange in the 
whole district of Louisburgh. It was a small wood- 
en building with a fair array of tarpaulin hats, oil- 
skin garments, shelves of dry-goods and crockery, 
and boxes and barrels, such as are usually kept by 
country traders : on the beach before it were the 
customary flake for drying fish, the brown winged 
boats, and other implements of the fisheries. 

But alas ! the new town, that looked so pastoral 
and pleasant, with its tender slopes of verdure, was 
not, after all, a Canaan, flowing with milk and blue- 
nosed potatoes. J^either was there white sugar, nor 
cofi'ee, nor good black tea there ; the cabin of the 
schooner being as well furnished with these articles 
of comfort as the store-house of McAlpin, towards 
which we had looked with such longing eyes. In- 
deed, I would not have cared so much about the dis- 
appointment myself, but I secretly felt sorry for 
Picton, who went rummaging about the ban-els in 
search of something to eat or to drink. " JS'o white 
sugar?" said the traveller. " We don't have white 



138 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

sugar in this town^'^ was the answer. "E'er coffee ?" 
"ISTo, Sir." And the tea had the same flavor of 
mnstj hay, with which we were so well acquainted. 
At last Picton stnmbled over a prize — a bnshel- 
basket half-filled with potatoes, whereat he raised a 
bngle-note of triumph. 

It may seem strange that a gentleman of fine edn- 
cation, a traveller, who had visited the famous Eu- 
ropean capitals, London, Paris, Some, Madrid, 
Vienna ; who had passed between the Pillars of Her- 
cules, and voyaged upon the blue Mediterranean, 
far as the Greek Archipelago ; who had wandered 
through the galleries of the Vatican, and mused 
within the courts of the Alhambra ; who had seen 
the fire-works on the carnival dome of St. Peter's, 
and the water- works of Versailles ; the temples of 
Athens, and the Boboli gardens of Florence ; the 
sculptures of Praxiteles, and the frescoes of 
Eaphael; should exhibit such emotion as Picton 
exhibited, over a bushel-basket only half-filled with 
small-sized blue-nosed tubers. But Picton was only 
a man, and " Homo swfn " the rest of the sen- 
tence it is needless to quote. I saw at a glance that 
the potatoes were cut in halves for planting ; but 
Picton was filled with the divine idea of a feast. 
" I say, we want a peck of potatoes." 
"A peck?" was the answer. "Why, man, 1 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 139 

wouldn't sell ye my seed-potatoes at a guinea 
apiece." 

Here was a sudden let-down; a string of the 
human violin snapped, just as it was keyed up 
to tuning point. Slowly and sorrowfully we re- 
gained the yawl after that brief and bitter experi- 
ence, and a few strokes of the oars carried us to the 
side of the " Balaklava." 

It may seem absurd and trifling to dwell upon 
such slight particulars in this itinerary of a month 
among the Blue looses (as our brothers of Nova- 
Scotia are called) ; but to give a correct idea of this 
rarely-visited part of the world, one must notice the 
salient points that present themselves in the course 
of the survey. Louisburgh would speedly become 
rich from its fisheries, if there were sufficient caj)i- 
tal invested there and properly used. Halifax is 
now the only point of contact between it and the 
outside world ; Halifax supplies it with all the ne- 
cessary articles of life, and Halifax buys all the 
produce of its fisheries. Therefore, Halifax reaps 
all the profits on either side, both of buying and 
selling, in all not amounting to much — as the mat- 
ter now stands. But insomuch as the sluggish 
blood of the colonies will never move without some 
quickening impulse from exterior sources, and as 
Louisburgh is only ten days' sail, under canvas, 



110 ACADIA, ORAMONTH 

from 'New York, and as the fisheries there would 
rapidly grow by kindly nurture into importance, 
it does seem as if a moderate amount of capital di- 
verted in that direction, would be a fortunate in- 
vestment, both for the investor and hardy fishermen 
of the old French town. 

I have alluded before to the long Acadian twi- 
lights, the tender and loving leave-takings between 
the day and his earth ; just as two fond and foolish 
young people separate sometimes, or as the quaint 
old poet in Britannia's Pastorals describes it : 

" Look as a lover, with a lingering kiss. 
About to part with the best half that's his : 
Fain would he stay, but that he fears to do it. 
And curseth time for so fast hastening to it : 
Now takes his leave, and yet begins anew 
To make less vows than are esteemed true : 
Then says, he must be gone, and then doth find 
Something he should have spoke that's out of mind : 
And while he stands to look for' t in her eyes^ 
Their sad, sweet glance so ties his faculties 
To thinlc from what he parts that he is now 
As far from leaving her, or koiowing hoWy 
As when he came ; begins his former strain, 
To kiss, to vow, and take his leave again ; 
Then turns, comes back, sighs, pants, and yet doth go. 
Fain to retire, and loth to leave her so." 

Even so these fond and foolish old institutions part 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 141 

company in nortliern regions, and, at tlie early honr 
of two o'clock in the morning, the amorous twilight 
reappears in his foggy mantle, to look at the fair 
face of his ancient sweetheart in the month of 
June. 

Tea being over, the " cluck " of the row-locks 
woke the echoes of the twilight bay, as our little 
yawl put off again for the new town, with a gay 
evening party, consisting of the captain, his lady, 
the baby, Picton and myself, with a brace of ISTew- 
foundland oarsmen. If our galley was not a stately 
one, it was at least a cheerful vessel, and as the 
keel grated on the snow-white pebbles of the beach, 
Picton and I sprang ashore, with all the gallantry 
of a couple of Sir Walter Paleighs, to assist the 
queen of tlie " Balaklava " upon terra firma. Her 
majesty being landed, we made a royal procession 
to the largest hutch on the green slope before us, 
the captain carrying the insignia of his marital 
office (the baby) with great pomp and awkward 
ceremony, in front, while his lady, Picton and I, 
loitered in the rear. We had barely crossed the 
sill of the hutch-door, before we felt quite at home 
and welcome. The same cheery fire in the chim- 
ney-place, the spotless floor, the tidy rush-bottomed 
chairs, and a whole nest of little white-heads and 
twinkling eyes, just on tlie border of a bright patch- 



14:2 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

work quilt, was invitation enough, even if we had 
not been met at the threshold b j the master himself, 
who stretched out his great arms with a kind, 
" Come-in-and-how-are-ye-all." 

And what a wonderful evening we passed in that 
other hutch, before the blazing hearth-fire ! What 
stories of wrecks and rescues, of icebergs and 
whales, of fogs and fisheries, of domestic lobsters 
that brought up their little families, in the mouths 
of the sunken cannon of the French frigates ; of the 
great sharks that were sometimes caught in the 
meshes of the set-nets ! " There was one shark," 
said our host, another old fisherman, who, by the 
way, wore a red skull-cap like a cardinal, and had a 
habit of bobbing his head as he spoke, so as to put 
one continually in mind of a gigantic woodpecker — 
" there was one shark I mind particular. M.j two 
boys and me was hauling in the net, and soon as I 
felt it, says I, ' Boys, here's something more than 
common.' So we all hauled away, and O my! 
didn't the water boil when he come up ? Such a 
time ! Fortnatly, he come up tail first. Lokd, if 
he'd a come up head first he'd a bit the boat in two 
at one bite ! He was all hooked in, and twisted up 
with the net. I s'pose he had forty hooks in him ; 
and when he got his head above water, he was took 
sick, and such a time as he had ! He must a' 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 143 

vomited up about two ban-els of bait — true as I set 
here. Well, as soon as be got over tbat, tben be 
tried to get his head around to bite ! Lord, if he'd 
got his head round, he'd a bit the boat in two, and 
we had it right full of fish, for we'd been out all day 
with hand-lines. He had a nose in front of his gills 
just like a duck, only it was nigh upon six feet 
long." 

" It must have been a shovel-nose shark," said 
Picton. 

"That's what a captain of a coaster told me," 
replied Red-Cap ; " he said it must a been a shovel- 
nose. If he'd only got that shovel-nose turned 
around, he'd a shovelled us into eternity, fish and 
all." 

" What prevented him getting his head around V* 
said Picton. 

" Why, sir, I took two half-hitches round his tail, 
soon as I see him come up. And I tell ye when I 
make two half-hitches, they hold ; ask captain 
there, if I can't make hitches as will hold. What 
say, captain?" 

Captain assented with a confirmatory nod. 

" Wliat did you do then ?" said Picton. " Did 
you get him ashore?" 

" Get him ashore ?" muttered Red-Cap, covering 
his mouth with one broad brown hand to muffle a 



144 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

contemptuous laugh ; " get him ashore ! why, we 
was pretty well off shore for such a sail." 

"You might have rowed him ashore," said 
Picton. 

"Bowed him ashore?" echoed Eed-Cap, with 
another contemptuous smile under the brown hand ; 
" rowed him ashore?" 

The traveller, finding he was in deep water, an- 
swered : " Yes ; that is, if you were not too far out." 

" A little too far out," replied Ked-Cap ; " why if 
I had been a hundred yards only from shore, it 
would ha' been too far to row, or sail in, with that 
shovel-nose, without counting the set-nets." 

" And what did you do ?" said Picton, a little 
nettled. 

" Why," said Eed-Cap, "I had to let him go, but 
first I cut out his liver, and that I did bring ashore, 
although it filled my boat pretty well full. You 
can judge how big it was : after I brought it ashore 
I lay it out on the beach and we measured it, Mr. 
McAlpin and me, and he'll tell you so too ; we laid 
it out on the beach, that ere liver, and it measured 
seventeen feet, and then we didn't measure all of it." 

" Why the devil," said Picton, " didn't you mea- 
sure all of it ?" 

" Well," replied Ked-Cap, " because we hadn't a 
measm*e long enough." 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 145 

Meantime tlie good ladj of the hutcli was busy 
arranging some tumblers on tlie table, and to onr 
great surprise and delight a huge yellow pitcher of 
milk soon made its appearance, and immediately 
after an old-fashioned iron bake-pan, with an upper 
crust of live embers and ashes, was lifted off the 
chimney trammel, and when it was opened, the 
fragrance of hot ginger-bread filled the apartment. 
Then Red-Cap bobbed away at a corner cupboard, 
until he extracted therefrom a small keg or runlet 
of St. Croix rum of most ripe age and choice flavor, 
some of which, by an adroit and experienced crook 
of the elbow, he managed to insinuate into the milk, 
which, with a little brown sugar, he stirred up 
carefully and deliberately with a large spoon. Pic- 
ton and I watching the proceedings with intense in- 
terest. Then the punch was poured out and handed 
around ; while the good wife made little trips from 
guest to guest with a huge platter filled with the 
brown and fragrant pieces of the cake, fresh from 
the bake-pan. And so the baby having subsided 
(our baby of the " Balaklava "), and the twilight 
having given place to a grand moon-light on the 
bay, and the fire sending out its beams of warmth 
and happiness, glittering on the utensils of the 
dresser, and tenderly touching with rosy light the 
cheeks of the small, white-headed fishermen on the 

7 



146 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

margin of tlie patch-work qnilt ; wliile tliere was no 
lack of punch and hospitality in the yellow pitcher, 
who shall say that we were not as well off in the 
fisherman's hntch as in a grand saloon, smTonnded 
with frescoes and flunkeys, and served with thin 
lemonade npon trays of silver ? 

I do not know why it is, but there always has 
been something very attractive to me in the faces 
of children ; I love to read the physiognomy of pos- 
terity, and so get a history of the future world in 
miniature, before the book itself is fairly printed. 
And insomuch as Nova Scotia and ISTewfoundland 
are said to be the nurseries of England's seamen, it 
was with no little interest that I caught a glimpse 
of two boys, one thirteen, the other eleven years 
old, the eldest children of om* friend Red-Cap. 

Tliey came in just as we entered the hutch, and 
quietly seated themselves together by the corner of 
the fire-place, after modestly shaking hands with all 
the guests. Tliey were di*essed in plain home-spun 
clothes, with something of a sailor rig, especially 
the neat check shirts, and old-lashioned, little, low- 
quartered, round-toed shoes, such as are always a 
feature in the melo-drama where Jack plays a part. 
It is not usual, too, to see such stocky, robust frames 
as these fisher-boys presented ; and in all three, in 
the father and his two sons, was one general, pervad- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 147 

ing idea of cleanliness and liousewifery. And then, 
to notice the physiognomy again, each small face, 
tliough modest as that of no girl which I could re- 
call at the moment, had its own tale of hardihood to 
tell ; there was a something that recalled the open 
sea, wi'itten in either countenance ; courage and en- 
durance ; faith and self-reliance ; the compass and 
the rudder ; sj^eaking plainly out under each little 
thatch of white hair. And indeed, as we found out 
afterwards, those young countenances told the truth ; 
those fisher-boys were Red-Cap's only boat-crew. 
In all weathers, in all seasons, by night and by day, 
the three were together, the parent and his two 
children, upon the perilous deep. 

" If I were the father of those boys," I whispered 
to Red-Cap, " I would be proud of them." 

" Would ye ?" said he, with a proud, fatherly 
glance towards them ; " well, I thought so once my- 
sel' ; it was when a schooner got ashore out there 
on the rocks ; and we could see her, just under the 
lights of the lighthouse, pounding away ; and by 
reason of the ice, nobody would venture ; so my 
boys said, says they, * Father, we can go, any way.' 
So I wouldn't stop when they said that, and so we 
laid beside the schooner and took oif all her crew 
pretty soon, and they mostly dead with the cold ; 
but it was an awful bad night, what with the dark- 



MS ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

ness and the ice. Yes," lie added, after a pause, 
" tliey are good boys noAV ; but tliey won't be witli 
me many years." 

" And wliy not ?" I incpired, for I could not see 
that the young Red-Caps exhibited any migratory 
signs of their species to justify the remark. 

" Because all our boys go to the States just as 
soon as they get old enough." 

" To the States !" I echoed with no little surprise ; 
" wliy, I thought they all entered the British ISTavy, 
or something of that kind." 

"Lord bless ye," said Red-Cap, "not one of 
them. Enter the British ISTavy ! Why, man, you 
get the whole of our young people. What would 
they want to enter the British Navy for, when they 
can enter the United States of America ?" 

" The air of Cape Breton is certainly favorable to 
health," said I, in a whisper, to Picton ; " look, for 
example, at the mistress of the hutch !" and so 
surely as I have a love of womanity, so surely I in- 
tended to convey a sentiment of admiration in the 
brief words spoken to Picton. The wife of Bonnet 
Hauge was at least not yoimg, but her cheek was 
smooth, and flushed Avith the glow of health ; her 
eyes liquid and bright ; her hair brown, and abun- 
dant ; her step light and elastic. Although neither 
Picton, captain, or anybody else in the hutch would 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 149 

remind one of the Aiigol Riipluiel, yet Mrs. Red- 
Caj), as 

" Witli diflpatchful loolcfl, in hasto 

SIio tiii'iKMl, oil lu)Hpit!il)lc Mioii^lita iiitniil,," 

was somewhat siiggestivo of Eve; her movements 
were grand jind simple ; there was a welcome in 
her face that dimpled in and out witli every current 
topic ; a Miltonic grandeur in her air, whether she 
walked or waited. I could not help hut admire 
her, as I do everything else noble and easily under- 
stood. Mrs. Red-Cap was a splendid woman ; the 
wife of a fislierman, with an unaffected grace be- 
yond the reach of art, and poor old Louisburgh was 
something to speak of. Picton expressed his admi- 
ration in stronger and profimer language. 

We were not the only guests at Red-Cap's. Tlio 
lighthouse keeper, Mr. Kavanagh, a bachelor and 
scholar, with liis sister, had come down to take a 
moonlight walk over the heather ; for in new Scot- 
land as in old Scotland, the bonny heather blooms, 
although not so much familiarized there by song 
and story. But we shall visit Liglithous« Point 
anon, and spend some hours with the two. ICava- 
naghs. Forthright, into the teeth of the harbc^r, tlio 
wind is blowing: "The wind bloweth where it 
listeth, and thou hearest the soundHherof, but canst 



150 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

not tell wlience it cometli, and wliitlier it goetli." 
How long tlie " BaLiklava " may stay here is yet 
uncertain. So, with a good-night to the Red-Caps 
and their gnests, we once more bear away for the 
cabin of the schooner and another night's discom- 
fort. 

As I have said before in other words, this pro- 
vince is nothing more than a piece of patchwork, 
intersected with petty boundary lines, so that every 
nation is stitched in and quilted in spots, without 
any harmony, or coherence, or general design. The 
people of Louisburgh are a kind, hospitable, plea- 
sant people, tolerably well informed for tlie inha- 
bitants of so isolated a corner of the world ; but a 
few miles further oif we come upon a totally diifer- 
ent race : a canting, covenanting, oat-eating, money- 
griping, tribe of second-hand Scotch Presbyte- 
rians : a transplanted, degenerate, barren patch of 
high cheek-bones and red hair, with nothing cleav- 
ing to them of the original stock, except covetous- 
ness and that peculiar cutaneous eruption for which 
the mother country is celebrated. But we shall 
soon have enough of these Scotsmen, good reader. 
Our present visit is to Lighthouse Point, to look out 
upon the broad Atlantic, the rocky coast, and the 
island battery, which a century since gave so much 
trouble to our filibustering fathers of New England. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 151 

As we w.ilkcd towards the liglitliouso over the 
pebbly beacli that borders tlie green turf, Picton 
suddenly starts off and begins a series of great 
jumps on the turf, giving witli every grasslioppcr- 
leap a sort of interject! on al " Wliuli ! wliuli !" as 
though the feat was not confined to the leg-muscles 
only, but included also a necessary exercise of the 
lungs. And although we shouted at the traveller, 
he kept on towards the lighthouse, uttering with 
every jump, " Heather, heather." At last he 
came to, beside a group of evergreens, and grew 
rational. The springy, elastic sod, the heather of 
old Scotland, reproduced in new Scotland, had 
reminded him of reels and strathspeys, "for," 
said he, " nobody can walk upon this sort of thing 
without feeling a desire to dance upon it. Tliun- 
der and turf! if we only had the pipes now !" 

And sure enough here was the heather ; the soft, 
springy turf, which has made even Scotchmen af- 
fectionate. I do not wonder at it ; it answers to the 
foot-step like an echo, as the string of an instrument 
answers its concord ; as love answers love in unison. 
I do not wonder that Scotchmen love the heather ; 
I am only surprised that so much heather should be 
wasted on Scotchmen. 

We had anticipated a fine marine view from the 
lighthouse, but in place of it we could only see a 



152 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

sort of semi-liiminous vapor, usually called a fog, 
whicli enveloped ocean, island, and pictnresqne 
coast. We conld not discover the Island Battery 
opposite, wliicli liad bothered Sir William in the 
siege of '45 ; hut nevertheless, we could judge of 
the difficulty of reaching it with a hostile force, 
screened as it was by its waves and vapors. The 
lighthouse is striped with black and white bars, 
like a zebra, and we entered it. One cannot help 
but admire such order and neatness, for the light- 
house is a marvel of purity. We were everywhere — 
in the bed-rooms, in the great lantern with its glitter- 
ing lamps, in the hall, the parlor, the kitchen ; 
and found in all the same pervading virtue ; 
as fresh and sweet as a bride was that old ze- 
bra-striped lighthouse. The Kavanahs, brother 
and sister, live here entirely alone ; what with 
books and music, the ocean, the ships, and the sky, 
they have company enough. One could not help 
liking them, they have such cheerful laces, and are 
so kind and hospitable. Good bye, good friends, and 
peace be with you always ! On our roiite schooner- 
ward we danced back over the heather, Picton with 
great joy carrying a small basket filled with his na- 
tional fruit — a present from the Kavanahs. What 
a feast we shall have, fresh fish, lobster, and above 
all — ^potatoes ! 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 153 

It is a novel sight to see the firs and spruces on 
this stormy sea-coast. They grow out, and not up ; 
an old tree spreading over an area of perhaps twen- 
ty feet in diameter, with the inevitable spike of 
green in its centre, and that not above a foot and a 
half from the m-ound. The trees in this rei^ion are 
possessed of extraordinary sagacity ; they know 
how hard the wind blows at times, and therefore 
put forth their branches in full squat, just like coun- 
try girls at a pic-nic. 

On Sunday the wind is still ahead, and Picton 
and I determine to abandon the " Balaklava." 
How long she may yet remain in harbor is a mat- 
ter of fate ; so, with brave, resolute hearts, we start 
off for a five-mile walk, to M<?Gibbet's, the only 
owner of a horse and wagon in the vicinity of 
Louisburgh. Scpiirrels, robins, and rabbits appear 
and disappear in the road as we march forwards. 
The country is wild, and in its pristine state ; na- 
ture everywhere. Now a brook, now a tiny lake, 
and " the murmuring pines and the hemlocks." At 
last we arrive at the house of McGibbet, and en- 
counter new Scotland in all its original brimstone 
and oat-meal. 



»[* 



164 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHArTER VIII. 

A Bluo-Noscd rail- of the most Cerulean Hue — Prospects of a Hard 
Bargain— Case of Necessity — Romantic Lake with an Unroman- 
tic Name — The Discussion concerning Oatmeal — Dansjor of the 
Gasterophili— rMcGibbet makes a Proposition — Farewell to the 
'' Ralaklava" — A Midnight Journey — Sydney— Boat Excursion 
to the Mio Maes — Picton takes off his Mackintosh. 

Some lejiriied pliilosoplier lias asserted that when 
a person has become accustomed to one peculiar kind 
of diet, it will be expressed in the lineaments of his 
face. How much the constant nse of oatmeal could 
produce such an effect, was plainly visible in the 
coimtenances of McGibbet and his lady-love. Both 
had an unmistakable equine cast; McGibbet, wild, 
scraggy, and scrubby, with a tuft on his poll that 
would not have been out of place between the ears 
of a plough-horse, stared at us, just as such an animal 
would naturally over the top of a fence ; while his 
gentle mate, who had more of the amiable draught- 
horse in her aspect, winked at ns with both eyes 
from under a close-crimped frill, that bore a nuir- 
vellous resemblance to a head-stall. The pair had 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 155 

evident! j jnst returned from kirk. To say nothing 
of McGibbet's hat, and his wife's shawl, on a chair, 
and his best boots on the hearth (for he was walk- 
ing about in his stockings), there was a ^yj preceese 
air about them, which 2)lainly betokened they were 
newly stiffened up with the moral starch of the con- 
venticle, and were therefore well prepared to drive 
a hard bargain for a horse and wagon to Sydney. 
But what surprised me most of all was the imper- 
turbable coolness of Picton. "Without taking a look 
scarcely at the pei-sons he was addi-essing, the tra- 
veller stalked in with an — " I say, we want a horse 
and wagon to Sydney ; so look sharp, will you, and 
turn out the best thing you have here ?" 

The moral starch of the conventicle stiffened up 
instantly. Like the blacksmith of Cairnvreckan, 
who, as a professor^ would drive a nail for no man 
on the Sabbath or kirk-ftist, unless in a case of ab- 
solute necessity, and then always charged an extra 
saxpence for each shoe ; so it was plain to be seen 
that McGibbet had a conscience which required to 
be pricked both with that which knows no law, and 
the saxpence extra. He turned to his wife and ad- 
dressed her in Gaelic ! Tlien we knew what was 



comuig. 



Mrs. McGibbet opened the subject by saying that 
they were both accustomed to the observance of the 



156 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

Sabbath, and that " sbe didn't tbink it was right for 
man to transgress, when the law was so plain " 

Here McGibbet broke in and said that — " He 
was free to confess he had commeeted a grreat 
menny theengs kwhich were a grreat deal worse 
than Sabbath-breaking." 

Upon which Mrs. McG. interrnpted him in tnrn 
with a few words, which, although in Gaelic, a lan- 
guage we did not understand^ conveyed the impres- 
sion that she was not addressing her liege lord in 
the language of endearment, and again continued 
in English : " That it was held sinful in the com- 
munity to wark or do anything o' the sort, or to 
fetch or carry even a sma bundle " 

" For kwich," said McGibbet, " is a fine to be 
paid to the meenister, of five shillins currency " 

Here Picton stopped whistling a bar of " Bonny 
Doon," and observed to me : " About a dollar of 
your money. We'll pay the fine." 

" Yes," chimed in McGibbet, " a dollar " and 

was again stopped by his wife, who raised her eye- 
brows to the borders of her kirk-frill and brought 
them down vehemently over her blue eyes at him. 

" Or to travel the road," she said, " even on foot, 
to say nothing of a wagon and horse." 

"But," interrupted Picton, "my dear ma- 
dam, we must get on, I tell you ; I must be in 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 157 

Sydney to-morrow, to catcli the steamer for St. 
John's." 

At this observation of the traveller the pair fell 
back upon their Gaelic for a while, and in the mean- 
time Picton whispered me : " I see ; they want to 
raise the price on ns : but we won't give in ; they'll 
be sharp enough after the job by and by." 

The pair turned towards us and both shook their 
heads. It was plain to be seen the conference had 
not ended in our favor. 

" Ye see," said the gude-wife, " we are accus* 
tomed to the observance of the Sabbath, and would 
na like to break it, except " 

" In a case of necessity ; you are perfectly right," 
chimed in Picton ; " I agree with you myself. 
!N^ow this is a case of necessity ; here we are ; we 
must get on, you see ; if we don't get on we miss 
the steamer to-morrow for St. John's — she only runs 
once a fortnight there — ^it's plain enough a clear 
case of necessity ; it's like," continued Picton, evi- 
dently trying to corner some authority in his mind, 
"it's like — ^let me see— it's like — a — ^pulling — a 
sheep out of a ditch — a — which they always do on 
the Sabbath, you know, to a — get us on to Syd- 
ney." 

Both McGibbet and his wife smiled at Picton's 
ingenuity, but straightway put on the equine look 



158 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

again. " It miglit be so; but it was clean contrary 
to tlieir preenciples." 

" I'll be hanged," whispered Picton, '' if I offer 
more than the usual price, which I heard at Louis- 
burgh was one pound ten, to Sydney, and the fine 
extra. I see what they are after." 

There was an awkward pause in the negotiations. 
McGibbet scratched his poll, and looked wistfully 
at his wife, but the kirk-frill was stiffened up with 
the moral starch, as aforesaid. 

Suddenly, Picton looked out of the window. " By 
Jove !" said he, " I think the wind is changed ! 
After all, we may get around in the ^Balaklava.'" 

McGibbet looked somewhat anxiously out of the 
window also, and grunted out a little more Gaelic 
to his love. The kirk-frill relented a trifle. 

" Perhaps the gentlemen wad like a glass of milk 
after thae long walk ? and Kobert" (which she pro- 
nounced Pobbut), " a bit o' the corn-cake." 

Upon which Pobbut, with great alacrity, turned 
towards the bed-room, from whence he brought 
forth a great white disk, that resembled the head 
of a flour-barrel, but which proved to be a full- 
grown griddle cake of corn-meal. This, with the 
pure milkj from the cleanest of scoured pans, was 
acceptable enough after the long walk. 

We had observed some beautiful streams, and 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 159 

blue glimpses of lakes on the road to McGibbet's, 
and just beyond bis bouse was a larger lake, several 
miles in extent, with picturesque bills on eitlier 
side, indented witb coves, and studded witb islands, 
sometimes stretcbing away to distant slopes of green 
turf, and sometimes reflecting masses of precipitous 
rock, crowned witb tbe spiry tops of spruces and 
firs. Indeed, all tbe country around, botb meadow 
and upland, was very pleasing to tbe sigbt. A low 
range of bills skirted tbe nortbern part of wbat 
seemed to be a spacious, natural ampbitbeatre, 
wbile on tbe soutli side a diversity of bigblands and 
water added to tbe wbole tbe cbarm of variety. 

" You bave a fine country about you, Mr. McGib- 
bet," said I. 

" Ay," be replied. 

" And wbat is it called bere ?" 

" We ca' it Get- Along !" said Eobbut, witb an 
intensely Scotcb accent on tbe " Get." 

" And yonder beautiful lake — wbat is tbe name 
of tbat V said I, in bopes of taking refuge bebind 
sometbing more eupbonious. 

"Ob! ay," replied be, "tbat's just Get- Along, 
too. "We doan't usually speak of it, but wban we 
do, we just ca' it Get- Along Lake, and it's not good 
for mucb." 

I tbougbt it best to cbange tbe subject. "Do 



160 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

jou like this as well as tlie oat-cake ?" said I, with 
my moutli full of the dry, husky provender. 

" E'ae," said McGibbet, with an equine shake of 
the head, " it's not sae fellin." 

'Not so filling ! Think of that, ye pampered min- 
ions of luxury, who live only upon delicate viands ; 
who prize food, not as it useful, but as it is tasteful ; 
who can even encourage a depraved, sensual appetite 
so far as to appreciate flavor ; who enjoy meats, fish, 
and poultry, only as they minister to your palates ; 
who fiirt with spring-chickens and trifle with sweet- 
breads in wanton indolence, without a thought of 
your cubic capacity ; without a reflection that you 
can live just as well upon so many square inches of 
oatmeal a day as you can upon the most elaborate 
French kickshaws ; nay, that you can be elevated 
to the level of a scientific problem, and work out 
your fillings, with nothing to guide you but a slate 
and pencil ! 

"Then you like oatmeal better than this?" said 
Picton, soothing down a husky lump, with a cup 
of milk. 

" Ay," responded McGibbet. 

" And you always eat it, whenever you can get 
it, I suppose ?" continued Picton, with a most inno- 
cent air. 

" Ay," responded McGibbet. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 161 

" I should think some of you Scotchmen won] "* 
be afraid of contracting a disease that is engendered 
in the system by the use of this sort of grain. I 
hope, Mr. McGibbet," said Picton, with imperturba- 
ble coolness, '' you keep clear of the bots, and that 
sort of thing, you know ?" 

"Kwat?" said Eobbut, with the most startled, 
horse-like look he had yet put on. 

"The gasterophili," replied Picton, "which I 
would advise you to steer clear of, if you want to 
live long." 

As this was a word with too many gable-ends for 
Eobbut's comprehension, he only responded by giv- 
ing such a smile as a man might be expected to give 
who had his mouth full of aloes, and as the con- 
versation was wandering off from the main point, ad- 
dressed himself to Mrs. McG. in the vernacular ajrain 

"We would like to obleege ye," said the lady, 
" if it was not for the transgression ; and we do na 
like to break the Sabbath for ony man." 

" Although," interposed Eobbut, " I am free to 
confess that I have done, a great many things worse 
than breakin' the Sabbath." 

" But if to-morrow would do as well," resumed 
his wife, " Eobbut would take ye to Sydney." 

To this Picton shook his head. " Too late for the 
steamer." 



162 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

" Or to-niglit ; I wad na mind that," said tlie 
pious Robbut, '''if it was after dark^ and that will 
bring ye to Sydney before the morn." 

" That will do," said Picton, slapping his thigh. 
" Lend us your horse and wagon to go down to the 
schooner and get our luggage ; we will be back this 
evening, and then go on to Sydney, eh ? That will 
do ; a ride by moonlight ;" and the traveller jumped 
up from his seat, walked with great strides towards 
the fire-place, turned his back to the blaze, hung a 
coat-tail over each arm, and whistled "Annie 
Laurie " at Mrs. McGibbet. 

The suggestion of Picton meeting the views of all 
concerned, the diplomacy ended. Robbut put him- 
self in his Sunday boots, and hitched up a spare rib 
of a horse before a box-wagon without springs, 
which he brought before the door with great com- 
placency. The traveller and I were soon on the 
ground-fioor of the vehicle, seated upon a log of 
wood by way of cushion ; and with a chirrup from 
McGibbet, off we went. At the foot of the first 
hill, our horse stopped ; in vain Picton jerked at 
the rein, and shouted at him : not a step further 
would "he go, until Robbut himself came down to 
the rescue. " Get along, Boab !" said his master ; 
and Bob, with a mute, pitiful appeal in his counte- 
nance, turned his face towards salt-water. At the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 163 

foot of the next hill he stopped again, when the 
irascible Picton jumped out, and with one powerful 
twitch of the bridle, gave Boab such a hint to " get 
on," that it nearly jerked his head off. And Boab 
did get on, only to stop at the ascent of the next 
hill. Then we began to understand the tactics of 
the animal. Boab had been the only conveyance 
between Louisburgh and Sydney for many years, 
and, as he was usually over-burdened, made a point 
to stop at the up side of every hill on the road, to 
let part of his freight get out and walk to the top of 
the acclivity with him. So, by way of compromise, 
we made a feint of getting out at every rise of 
ground, and Boab, who always turned his head 
around at each stopping-place, seemed to be satis- 
fied with the observance of the ceremony, and 
trotted gaily forward. At last we came to a place 
we had named Sebastopol in the morning — a great 
sharp edge of rock as high as a man's waist, that 
cut the road in half, over which we lifted the wa- 
gon, and were soon in view of the bright little har- 
bor and the " Balaklava" at anchor. Mr. McAlpin 
kindly gave quarters to our steed in his out-house, 
and offered to raise a signal for the schooner to send 
a boat ashore. As he was Dej)uty United States 
Consul, and as I was tired of the red-cross of St. 
George, I asked him to hoist his consular flag. Up 



164 ACADIA, OE A MONTH 

to tlie flag-staff truck rose tlie roll of white and red 
worsted, then uncoiled, blew out, and the blessed 
stars and stripes were waving over me. It is sur- 
prising to think how transported one can be some- 
times with a little bit of bunting ! 

And now the labor of packing commenced, of 
which Picton had the greatest share by far ; the lit- 
tle cabin of the schooner was pretty well spread out 
with his traps on every side ; and this being ended, 
Picton got out his travelling-organ and blazed away 
in 2i finale of great tunes and small, sometimes fast, 
sometimes slow, as the humor took him. After all, 
we parted from the jolly little craft with regret : 
our trunks were lowered over the side ; we shook 
hands with all on board ; and were rowed in silence 
to the land. 

I have had some experience in travelling, and 
have learned to bear with ordinary firmness and 
philosophy the incidental discomforts one is certain 
to meet with on the road ; but I must say, the dis- 
cipline already acquired had not prepared me for 
the unexpected appearance of our wagon after Pic- 
ton's luggage was placed in it. First, two solid 
English trunks of sole-leather filled the bottom of 
the vehicle ; then the traveller's Minie-rifle, life- 
preserver, strapped-up blankets, and hand-bag were 
stuffed in the sides : over these again were piled my 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 165 

trunk and the traveller's valise (itself a monster of 
straps and sole-leather) ; then again his portable-se- 
cretary and' the hand-organ in a box. Tliese made 
such a pyramid of luggage, that riding ourselves 
was out of the question. What with the trunks and 
the cordage to keep them staid, our wagon looked 
like a ship of the desert. To crown all, it began to 
rain steadily. " Now, then," said Picton, climbing 
up on his confounded travelling equipage, " let's 
get on." "With some difficulty I made a half-seat 
on the corner of my own trunk ; Picton shouted 
out at Boab ; the ITewfoundland sailors who had 
brought us ashore, put their shoulders to the wheels^ 
and away we went, waving our hats in answer to 
the hearty cheers of the sailors. It was down hill 
from McAlpin's to the first bridge, and so far we 
had nothing to care for, except to keep a look-out 
we were not shaken off our high perch. But at the 
foot of the first hill Boab stopped ! In vain Picton 
shouted at him to get on ; in vain he shook rein and 
made a feint of getting down from the wagon. 
Boab was not intractable, but he was sagacious ; he 
had been fed on that sort of chaff too long. Picton 
and I were obliged to humor his prejudices, and 
dismount in the mud, and after one or two feeble 
attempts at a ride, gave it up, walked down hill and 
up, lifted the wagon by inches over Sebastopol, and 



166 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

finally arrived at McGibbet's, wet, tired, and hun- 
grj. That Sabbath-broker received us with a grim 
smile of satisfaction, put on the half-extinguished 
fire the smallest bit of wood he could find in the 
pile beside the hearth, and then went away with 
Boab to the stable. " Gloomy prospects ahead, 
Picton !" The traveller said never a word. 

Now I wish to record here this, that there is no 
place, no habitation of man, however humble, that 
cannot be lighted up with a smile of welcome, and 
the good right-hand of hospitality, and made cheer- 
ful as a palace hung with the lamps of Aladdin ! 

McGibbet, after leading his beast to the stable, 
returned, and warming his wet hands at the fire, 
grunted out ; " It rains the nigcht." 

" Yes," answered Picton, hastily, " rains like blue 
blazes : I say, get us a drop of whisky, will you ?" 

To this the equine replied by folding his hands 
one over the other with a saintly look. " I never 
keep thae thing in the hoose." 

" Picton," said I, '^ if we could only unlash our 
luggage, I have a bottle of capital old brandy in my 
trunk, but it's too much trouble." 

" Oh ! na," quoth Robbut with a most accommo- 
dating look, " it will be nae trooble to get to it." 

"Well, then," said Picton, "look sharp, will 
you?" and our host, with great swiftness, moved off 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 107 

to the wagon, and very soon returned with the 
trunk on his shoulder, according to directions. 

"But," said I, taking out the bottle of precious 
fluid, " here it is, corked up tight, and what is to be 
done for a cork-screw ?" 

" I've got one," said the saint. 

" I thought it was likely," quoth Picton, drily ; 
" look sharp, will you ?" 

And Robbut did look sharp, and produced the 
identical instrument before Picton and I had ex- 
changed smiles. Then Pobbut spread out three 
green tumblers on the table, and following Picton's 
lead, poured out a stout half-glass, at which I 
shouted ont, " Hold up !" for I thought he was fil- 
ling the tumbler for my benefit. It proved to be a 
mistake ; Robbut stopped for a moment, but in- 
stantly recovering himself, covered the tumbler 
with his four fingers, and, to use a Western phrase, 
"got outside of the contents quicker than light- 
ning." Then he brought from his bed-room a 
coarse sort of worsted horse-blanket, and with a 
"Ye'll may-be like to sleep an hour or twa?" 
threw down his family-quilt and retired to the arms 
of Mrs. McG. Picton gave a great crunching blow 
with his boot-heel at the back-stick, and laid on a 
good supply of fuel. We were wet through and 
through, but we wrapped ourselves in our travel- 



168 ACADIA, ORAMONTH 

ling-blankets like a brace of clansmen in tbeir 
plaids, put our feet towards the niggardly blaze, 
and were soon bound and clasped with sleep. 

At two o'clock our bost "roused us from our bard 
bed, and after a stretcb, to get tbe stifl&iess out of 
joints and muscles, we took leave of tbe Presbyte- 
rian quarters. The day was just dawning: at tbis 
early bour, lake and bill-side, tree and tbicket, were 
barely visible in tbe grey twiligbt. The wagon, 
with its pyramid of luggage, moved off in the rain, 
McGibbet walking beside Boab, and Picton and I 
following after, with all the gravity of chief mour- 
ners at a funeral. To give some idea of the road 
we were upon, let it be understood, it bad once 
been an old French military road, which, after the 
destruction of the fortress of Louisburgh, had been 
abandoned to the British Government and the ele- 
ments. As a consequence, it was embroidered with 
the ruts and gullies of a century, the washing of 
rains, and the tracks of wagons ; howbeit, the only 
traverse upon it in later years were the wagon of 
McGibbet and the saddle-horse of the post-rider. 
" Get- Along " had a population of seven himdred 
Scotch Presbyters, and therefore it will be easy to 
understand the condition of its turnpike. 

Up bill and down hill, through slough and over 
rock, we trudged, for mile after mile. Sometimes 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 169 

beside Get-Along Lake, with its grey, spectral 
islands and woodlands; sometimes by rushing 
brooks and dreary farm-fields ; now in paths close 
set with evergreens ; now in more open grounds, 
skirted with hills and dotted with silent, two- penny 
cottages. Sometimes Picton mounted his pyramid of 
trunk-leather for a mile or so of nods; sometimes I es- 
sayed the high perch, and holding on by a cord, drop- 
ped off in a moment's forgetfulness, with the con- 
stant fear of waking up in a mud-hole, or under the 
wagon-wheels. But even these respites were brief. 
It is not easy to ride up hill and down by rock and 
rut, under such conditions. "We were very soon con- 
vinced it was best to leave the wagon to its load of 
sole-leather, and walk through the mud to Sydney. 
After mouldy Halifax, and war-worn Louisburgh, 
the little town of Sydney is a pleasant rural picture. 
Everybody has heard of the Sydney coal-mines : we 
expected to find the miner's finger-marks every- 
where ; but instead of the smoky, sulphurous 
atmosphere, an(J the black road, and the sulky, 
grimy, brick tenements, we were surprised with 
clean, white, picket-fences; and green lawns, and 
clever, little cottages, nestled in shrubbery and clo- 
ver. The mines are over the bay, five miles from 
South Sydney. Slowly we dragged on, until we 
came to a sleepy little one-story inn, with superna- 

8 



170 ACADIA, OH A MONTH 

tnral dormer windows rising out of the roof, before 
wMcli Boab stopped. We paid McGibbet's kirk- 
fine, wagon-fare, and bis unconscionable cbarge for 
bis conscience, without parleying with bim ; we 
were too sleepy to indulge in tbe luxury of a mone- 
tary skirmisb. A pretty, red-cbeeked chamber- 
maid, witb lovely drooping eyes, showed us to our 
rooms ; it was yet very early in tbe morning ; we 
were almost ashamed to get into bed with such 
dazzling white sheets after tbe dark-brown accommo- 
dations of the " Balaklava ;" but we did get in, and 
slept ; oh ! how sweetly ! until breakfast at one ! 

" Twenty-four miles of such foot-travel will do 
pretty well for an invalid, eh, Picton ?" 

"All serene?" quoth the traveller, interroga- 
tively. 

" Feel as well as ever I did in my life," said I, 
with great satisfaction. 

" Then let's have a bath," and, at Picton's sum- 
mons, the chamber-maid brought up in our rooms 
two little tubs of fair water, and a small pile of fat, 
white napkins. The bathing over, and the outer 
men new clad, " from top to toe," down we went to 
the cosy parlor to breakfast ; and such a breakfast ! 

I tell you, my kind and gentle friend ; you, who 
are now reading this paragraph, that here, as in all 
other parts of the world, there are a great many 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 171 

kinds of people ; only that here, in Nova Scotia, 
the difference is in spots, not in individuals. And 
I will venture to say to those philanthropists who 
are eternally preaching " of the masses," and " to 
the masses," that here " masses " can be found — 
concrete " masses," not yet individualized : as ready 
to jump after a leader as a flock of sheep after a 
bell-wether ; only that at every interval of five or 
ten miles between place and place in ISTova Scotia, 
they are apt to jump in contrary directions. There 
are Scotch l^ova Scotiaites even in Sydney. Other- 
wise the place is marvellously pleasant. 

I must confess that I had a romantic sort of idea 
in visiting Sydney ; a desire to return by way of 
the Bras cPOr lake, the "arm of gold," the inland 
sea of Cape Breton, that makes the island itself only 
a border for the water in its interior. And as the 
navigation is frequently performed by the Micmac 
Indians, in their birch-bark canoes, I determined 
to be a voyageicr for the nonce, and engage a couple 
of Micmacs to paddle me homewards, at least one 
day's journey. The wigwams of the tribe were 
pitched about a mile from the town, and I proposed 
a visit to their camp as an afternoon's amusement. 
Picton readily assented, and down we went to the 
wharf, where the landlady assured us we would find 
some of the tribe. These Indians, often expert 



172 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

coopers, are employed to barrel up fisli ; the busy 
wharf was covered with laborers, hard at work, 
heading and hooping ship loads of salt mackerel ; 
and among the workmen were some with the un- 
mistakable lozenge eyes, high cheek-bones, and 
rhubarb complexion of the native American. Upon 
inquiry, we were introduced to one of the Rhubar- 
barians. He was a little fellow, not in leggings and 
quill-embroidered hunting-shirt, with belt of wam- 
pum and buckskin moccasins ; armed with bow 
and arrow, tomahawk and scalping-knife ; such as 
one would expect to navigate a wild, romantic lake 
with, in birch-bark canoe ; but a pinched-up speci- 
men of a man, in a seedy black suit, out of which 
rose a broad, flat face, like the orb of a sun-flower, 
bearing one side the aboriginal black eye, and on 
the other the civilized, surrounded with the blue 
and purple halo of battle. Wq had barely opened 
our business with the Indian, when a bonny Scotch- 
man, a fellow-cooper of salt mackerel, introduced 
himself : \ 

" Oh, ye visit the Micmacs the day?" 

1^0 answer. 

" De'il a canoe has he to tak ye there " (the la- 
dlan slunk away), " but I'll tak ye tuU 'em for one 
and saxpence, in a gude boat." 

The fellow had such an honest face, and the offer 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 17 



Q 



was so fair and earnest, that Picton's and my own 
trifling prejudices were soon overcome, and we 
directed Malcolm, for that was his name, to bring 
his boat under the inn-windows after the dinner- 
hour. I regret to say that we found Malcolm tole- 
rably drunk after dinner, with a leaky boat, under 
the inn-windows. And farther, I am pained to state 
the national characteristic was developed in Mal- 
colm drunk, from which there was no appeal to 
Malcolm sober, for he insisted upon double fare, 
and time was pressing. To this we assented, after 
a brief review of former prejudices. We got in the 
boat and put ojff. We had barely floated away into 
the beautiful landscape when a fog swept over us, 
and Malcolm's nationality again woke up. He 
would have four times as much as he had charged 
in the first instance, or "he'd tak us over, and land 
us on the ither side of the bay." 

Then Picton's nationality woke up, and he unbut- 
toned his mackintosh. " ITow, sir," said he to 
Malcolm, as he rose from his seat in the boat, his 
head gracefully inclined towards his starboard shirt- 
collar, and his* two tolerably large fists arrayed in 
order of battle within a few brief inches of the 
delinquent's features, " did I understand you to 
say that you had some idea of taking this gentle- 
man and myself to the other side of the hay f " 



174: ACADIA, OE A MONTH 

There was a boy in our boat — a fair-baired, blue- 
ejed representative of JSTova Scotia ; a sea-boy, 
with a dash of salt-water in his ruddy cheeks, who 
had modestly refrained from taking part in the dis- 
pute. 

" Come, now," said he to Malcolm, " pull away, 
and let us get the gentlemen up to the camp," and 
he knit his boy brow with determination, as if he 
meant to have it settled according to contract. 

" Yes," said Picton, nodding at the boy, " and if 
he don't " 

u j?-^ pullin' an't I ?" quoth the descendant of 
'King Duncan, a little frightened, and suiting the 
action to the word ; " I'm a-pewlin," and here his 
oar missed the water, and over he tumbled with a 
great splash in the bottom of the boat. " I'm 
a-pewlin," he whined, as he regained his seat and 
the oar, "and all I want is to hae my honest 
airnins." 

"Then pull away," said Picton, as he resumed 
his seat in the stern-sheets. 

" Ay," quoth the Scotchman, " I know the Mic- 
macs weel, and thae squaws too ; deil a one o' 'em 
Jbut knows Malcolm " 

" Pull away," said the boy. 

" They are guid-lookin', thae squaws, and I'm a 
bachelter ; and I tell ye when I tak ye tuU em — 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 175 

for I know the hail o' em— if ye are gentlemen, 
je'U pay me my honest airnins." 

"And I tell you," answered Picton, his fist 
clenched, his eye flashing again, and his indignant 
nostrils expressing a degree of anger language 
could not express ; " I tell you, if you do not carry 
us to the Micmac camp without further words, I'll 
pay you your honest earnings before you get there : 
I'll punch that Scotch head of yours till it looks like 
a photograph !'* 



176 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Micmac Camp — Indian Church-warden and Broker — Interior 
of a Wigwam — A Madonna — A Digression — Malcolm discharged 
— An Indian Bargain — The Inn Parlor, and a Comfortable 
Night's Rest. 

The threat had its effect : in a few minntes our 
"boat ran bows-on np the clear pebbled beach before 
the Micmac camp. 

It was a little cluster of birch-bark wigwams, 
pitched upon a carpet of greensward, just at the 
edge of one of the loveliest harbors in the world. 
The fog rolled away like the whiff of vapor from a 
pipe, and melted out of sight. Before us were the 
blue and violet waters, tinged with the hues of sun- 
set, the rounded, swelling, curving shores opposite, 
dotted with cottages; the long, sweeping, creamy 
beaches, the distant shipping, and, beyond, the 
great waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. ^N'earer 
at hand were " the murmuring pines and the hem- 
locks," the tender green light seen in vistas of firs 
and spruces, the thin smoke curling up from the 
wigwams, the birch-bark canoes, the black, bright 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 177 

eyes of the children, the sallow faces of the men, 
and the j)rettj squaws, arrayed in blue broad- 
cloth frocks and leggings, and modesty, and mocca- 
sins. 

" E'ow, here we are," said Malcolm, triumphantly, 
" and wha d' ye thenk o' the Micmacs ? Deil a 
wan o' the yellow deevils but knows Malcolm, an 
I'll introjewce ye to the hail o' em." 

" Stop, sir," said Picton, sternly, " we want none 
of your company. You can take your boat back," 
(here I nodded affirmatively), '' and we'll walk 
home." 

It was quite a picture, that of our oarsman, 
upon this summons to depart. He had just laid 
his hand upon the shoulder of a fat, good-natured 
looking squaw, to commence the introjewcing ; one 
foot rested on the bottom of an overturned canoe, 
in an attitude of command ; his old battered tar- 
paulin hat, his Guernsey shirt, and salt-mackerel 
trowsers, finely relieved against the violet-tinted 
water ; but oh ! how chop-fallen were those rugged 
features under that old tarpaulin ! 

The scene had its effect ; I am sure Picton and 
myself would gladly have paid the quadruple sum 
on the SjDot — after all, it was but a trifle — for 
we both drew forth a sovereign at the same mo- 
ment. 

8* 



178 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

Unfortunately Malcolm had no change; not a 
" bawbee." " Then," said we, " go back to the inn, 
and we'll pay you on onr return." 

" And," said Malcolm, in an unearthly whine 
that might have been heard all over the camp, 
" d' ye get me here to take advantage o' me, and 
no pay me my honest airnins ?" 

" "What the devil to do with this fellow, short of 
giving him a drubbing, I do not know," said Pic- 
ton. " Here, you, give us change for a sovereign, 
or take yourself off and wait at the hotel till we get 
back again." 

" I canna change a sovereign, I tell ye " 

" Then be off with you, and wait." 

" "Wad ye send me away without my honest airn- 
ins ?" he uttered, with a whine like the bleat of a 
bagpipe. 

Picton drew a little closer to Malcolm, with one 
fist carefully doubled up and put in ambush behind 
his back. But the boy interposed — " Perhaps the 
Micmac chief could change the sovereign." 

" Oh ! ay," quoth Malcolm, who had given an un- 
easy look at Picton as he stepped towards him; 
" Oh ! ay ; I'se tak ye tull 'im ;" and without fur- 
ther ado he stepped off briskly towards the centre 
of the camp, and we followed in his wake. When 
our file-leader reached the wigwam of the chief, he 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 179 

went down on hands and knees, lifted up a little 
curtain or blanket in front of the low door of the 
tent, crawled in head first, and we followed close 
upon his heels. 

As soon as the eye became accustomed to the 
dim and uncertain light of the interior, we began to 
examine the curious and simple architecture of this 
human bee-hive. A circle of poles, say about ten 
feet in diameter at the base, and tied together to 
an apex at the top, covered with the thin bark of 
the birch-tree, except a space above to let out the 
smoke, was all the protection these people had 
against the elements in summer or winter. The 
floor, of course, was the primitive soil of Cape 
Breton ; in the centre of the tent a few sticks were 
smouldering away over a little pile of ashes : the 
thin smoke lifted itself up in folds of blue vapor 
until it stole forth into the evening air from the 
opening in the roof. Through this aperture the 
light — the only light of the tent — fell down upon 
the group below : the old chief with his great silver 
cross, and medal, and snow-white hair ; the young 
and beautiful squaw with her pappoose at the 
breast, like a Madonna by Murillo ; Malcolm's 
battered tarpaulin and Guernsey shirt ; and the 
two unpicturesque objects of the party — ^Picton 
and myself. Around the central fire a broad, 



180 ACADIA, OE A MONTH 

green border of fragrant hemlock twigs, extending 
to tlie skirts of the tent, was raised a few inches 
from the gronnd. Upon this conch we sat, and 
opened our business with the aged sagamore. 

Old Indian was very courteous ; he drew forth a 
bag of clinking dollars, for strange as it may seem, 
he was a churchwarden: the Micmacs being all 
Catholics, the chief holds the silver keys of St. 
Peter. But venerable and pious as he appeared, 
with his silver cross and silver hair, the old fellow 
was something too of a broker ! He demanded a 
fair rate of commission — eight per cent, premium on 
every dollar ! Even this would not answer our 
purpose ; it was as difficult to make change with 
the old churchwarden as with Malcolm ; there was 
no money in the camp except hard silver dollars. 

'No change for a sovereign ! 

So we went forth from the wigwam again on all 
fours, and it was only by another promise of a 
sound drubbing that Malcolm was finally per- 
suaded to drop off and leave us. 

Aboriginal certainly is the camp of the Micmacs. 
The birch-bark wigwams ; the canoes that lined the 
beach ; the paddles, the utensils ; the bows and 
arrows ; the parti-colored baskets, are independent 
of, are earlier than our arts and manufactures. So 
far as these people are concerned, the colonial 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 181 

government has been mild and considerate. 
Although there are game-laws in the Province, yet 
Micmac has a privilege no white man can possess. 
At all seasons he may hunt or fish ; he may stick 
his aisKkun in the salmon as it runneth up the 
rivers to spawn, and shoot the partridge on its 
nest, if he please, without fine and imprisonment. 
Some may think it better to preserve the game 
than to preserve the Indian ; but. some think other- 
wise. For my part, when the question is between 
the man and the salmon, I am content to forego fish. 
As we walked through the Micmac camp we 
met our semi-civilized friend with the lozenge eyes, 
and I made a contract with him for a brief voyage 
on le Bras d'Or. But alas ! Indian will sometimes 
take a lesson from his white comrades ! Micmac's 
charge at first was one pound for a trip of twenty- 
four miles on the " Arm of Gold ;" cheap enough. 
But before we left the camp it was two pounds. 
That I agreed to pay. Then there was a portage of 
three miles, over which the canoe had to be 
carried. " Well ?" " And it would take two men 
to paddle." " "Well ?" " And then the canoe had to 
be paddled pack." " Well ?" " And then carried 
over the portage again." "Well?" "And so it 
would be four pounds !" Here the negotiations 
were broken off; how much more it would cost I 



182 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

did not ascertain. The rate of progression was too 
rapid for furtlier inquiry. 

So we walked home again amid the fragrant 
resinous trees, nntil we gained the high road, and 
so b J prettj cottages, and lawns, and picket fences ; 
sometimes meeting groups of wandering damsels 
with their young and happy lovers ; sometimes 
twos and threes of horse-women, in habits, hats, 
and feathers : now catching a glimpse of the broad, 
blue harbor ; now looking down a green lane, bor- 
dered with turf and copse ; until we reached our 
comfortable quarters at Mrs. Hearn's, where the 
pretty chambermaid, with drooping eyes, welcomed 
us in a voice whose music was sweeter than the 
tea-bell she held in her hand. And here, too, we 
found Malcolm, waiting for his pay, partially sober 
and quiet as a lamb. 

I trust the reader will not find fault with the 
writer for dwelling upon these minute particulars. 
In this itinerary of the trip to the Acadian land, I 
have endeavored to portray, as faithfully as may be, 
the salient features of the country, and particularly 
those contrasts visible in the settlements ; the 
jealous preservation of those dear, old, splendid pre- 
judices, that separate tribe from tribe, clan from 
clan, sect from sect, race from race. I wish the 
reader to see and know the country as it is, not for 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 183 

the purpose of arousing his prejudices against a 
neighboring people, but rather with the intent of 
showing to what result these prejudices tend, in 
order that he may correct his own. A mere aggre- 
gation of tribes is not a great people. Take the 
human species in a state of sectionalism, and it does 
not make much difference whether it is in the shape 
of the Indian, proud of the blue and red stripes on 
his face, or the Scotchman, proud of the blue and 
red stripes on his plaid, the inferiority of the hu- 
man animal, with his tribal shee]3-mark on him, 
is evident enough to any person of enlarged under- 
standing. Therefore I have been minute and faith- 
ful in describing the species McGibbet and Mal- 
colm, and in contrasting them with tlie hardy 
fisherman of Louisburgh, the Micmacs of Sydney, 
the negroes of Deer's Castle, the Acadians of 
Chizzetcook, and as we shall see anon with other 
sectional specimens, just as they present their 
kaleidoscopic hues in the local settlements of this 
colony. 

It is just a year since I was seated in that cosy 
inn-parlor at Sydney, and how strangely it all 
comes back again : the little window overlooking 
the harbor, the lights on the twinkling waters ; the 
old-fashioned house-clock in the corner of the room ; 
the bright brass andirons ; the cut paper chimney- 



184 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

apron ; the old sofa ; tlie cheerful larap, and the 
well-polished table. And I remember, too, the hap- 
py, tranquil feeling of lying in the snow-white 
sheets at night, and talking with Picton of our over- 
land journey from Louisburgh ; of McGibbet and 
Malcolm ; and then we branched out on the great 
subject of Indian rights, and Indian wrongs ; of 
squaws and pappooses ; of wigwams and canoes, until 
at last I dropped off in a doze, and heard only a 
repetition of Micmac — Micmac — Micmac — Mic — 

Mac ^Mic ^Mac ! To this day I am unable 

to say whether the sound I heard came from Picton, 
or the great house-clock in the corner. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 185 



CHAPTER X. 

Over the Bay — A Gigantic Dumb Waiter — Erebus — Reflections — 
White and Black Squares of the Chess-board — Leave-taking — 
An Interruption — The Aibstract Preencipels of Feenance. 

Eright and early next morning we arose for an 
expedition across the bay to ISTortli Sydney and the 
coal-mines. A fresh breakfast in a sunny room, a 
brisk walk to the breezy, grass-grown parapet, that 
defends the harbor ; a thought of the first expedi- 
tion to lay down the telegraph line between the old 
and new hemispheres, for here lie the coils of the 
sub-marine cable, as they were left after the stormy 
essay of the steamer " James Adger," a year be- 
fore — what a theme for a poet! 

" Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 
Some spark, now dormant, of electric fire : 
News, that the board of brokers might have swayed, 
Or broke the banks that trembled with the wire." 

— and we take an airy seat on the poop-deck of the 
little English steamer, and are wafted across the 



186 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

harbor, ■Q.Ye miles, to a small sea-port, where coal- 
schiites and railways run out over the wharfs, and 
coasters, both fore-and-aft, and square-rigged, are 
gathered in profusion. A glass of English ale at a 
right salt-sea tavern, a bay horse, and two- wheeled 
"jumper" for the road, and away we roll towards 
the mines. I^ow up hill and down ; now passing 
another Micmac camp on the green margin of the 
beach ; now by trim gardens without flowers ; now 
getting nearer to the mines, which we know by the 
increasing blackness of the road ; until at last we 
bowl past rows of one story dingy tenements of 
brick, with miners' wives and children clustered 
about them like funereal flowers ; until we see the 
forges and jets of steam, and davits uplifted in the 
.air ; and hear the rattle of the iron trucks and the 
rush of the coal as it runs through the schutes into 
the rail-cars on the road beneath. We tie our pony 
beside a cinder-heap, and mount a ladder to the 
level of the huge platform above the shaft. A con- 
stant supply of small hand-cars come up with demo- 
niac groans and shrieks from the bowels of the earth 
through the shaft. These are instantly seized by 
the laborers and run over an iron floor to the schute, 
where they are caught in titantic trammels, and 
overturned into harsh thunder. Meanwhile the de- 
mon car-bringer has sunk again on its errand ; the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 187 

suspending rope wheeling down with dizzy swift- 
ness. As one car-bearer descends, another rises 
to the surface with its twin wheel-vessels of 
coal. 

" Would you like to go down ?" 

" How far down ?" 

" Sixty fathoms." 

Three hundred and sixty feet ! Think of being 
suspended by a thread, from a height twice that of 
Trinity's spire, and whirled into such a depth by 
steam ! We crawled into the little iron box, just 
large enough to allow us to sit up with our heads 
against the top, both ends of our j)arachute being 
open; the operator presses down a bar, and instantly 
the earth and sky disappear, and we are wrapt in 
utter darkness. Oh ? how sickening is this sinking 
feeling ! Down — down — down ! What a gigantic 
dumb-waiter ! Down, down, a hot gust of vapor — 
a stifling sensation — a concussion upon the iron floor 
at the foot of the shaft ; a multitude of twinkling 
lamps, of fiends, of grimy faces, and no bodies — and 
we are in a coal-mine. 

There was a black, bituminous seat for visitors, 
sculptured out of the coal, just beyond the shaft, 
and to this we were led by the carboniferous fiends. 
My heart beat violently. I do not know how it 
went with Picton, but we were both silent. Oh ! 



188 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

for a glimpse of the blue sky and waying trees 
above us, and a long breath of fresh air ! 

As soon as the stifling sensation passed away, we 
breathed more freely, and the lungs became accus- 
tomed to the subterranean atmosphere. In the 
gloom, we could see the smutted features only, of 
miners moving about, and to heighten the Dantesque 
reality, new and strange sounds, from different parts 
of the enormous cavern, came pouring towards the 
common centre — ^the shaft of the coal-pit. 

These were the laden cars on the tram-ways, 
drawn by invisible horses, from the distant works 
in the mine, rolling and reverberating through the 
infernal aisles of this devil's cathedral. One could 
scarcely help recalling the old grandfather of 
Maud's Lord-lover : 

" lately died, 



Gone to a hlacher pit^ for whom 
Grimy nakedness, dragging his trucks 
And laying his trams, in a poisoned gloom 
Wrought, till he crept from a gutted mine 
Master of half a servile shire. 
And left his coal all turned into gold 
To a grandson, first of his noble line." 

Intermingled with these sounds were others, the 
jar and clash of gateways, the dripping and splash- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 189 

ing of water, the rolling tlmnder of tlie ascending 
and descending ii-on paracliiites in the shaft, the 
trampling of horses, the distant report of powder- 
blasts, and the shrill jargon of human speakers, 
near, yet only partially visible. 

"Is it a clear day overhead?" said the black 
bust of one of the miners, with a lamp in its 
hat ! 

Just think of it ! We had only been divorced 
from the aerial blue of a June sky a minute before. 
Our very horse w^as so high above us that we could 
have distinguished him only by the aid of a tele- 
scope — that is, if the solid ribs of the globe were not 
between us and him. 

As soon as we became accustomed to the place, 
we moved off after the foreman of the mine. We 
w^alked through the miry tram-ways under the low, 
black arches, now stepping aside to let an invisible 
horse and car, " grating harsh thunder," pass us in 
the murky darkness ; now through a doorway, mo- 
mently closed to keep the foul and clear airs sepa- 
rate, until we came to the great furnace of the mine 
that draws off all the noxious vapors from this nest 
of Beelzebub. Then we went to the stables where 
countless horses are stalled — ^horses that never see 
the light of day again, or if they do, are struck 
blind by the apparition ; now in wider galleries, 



190 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

and new explorations, where we behold the busy 
miners, twinkling like the distant lights of a city, 
and hear the thunder-burst, as the blast explodes in 
the murky chasms. At last, tired, oppressed, and 
sickened with the vast and horrible prison, for such 
it seems, we retrace our steps, and once more enter 
the iron parachute. A touch of the magic lever, 
and again we fly away ; but now upwards, upwards 
to the glorious blue sky and air of mother earth. 
A miner with his lamp accompanies us. By its 
dim light we see how rapidly we spin through the 
shaft. Our car clashes again at the top, and as we 
step forth into the clear sunshine, we thank God for 
such a bright and beautiful world up stairs ! 

" Do you know," said I, " Picton, what we would 
do if we had such a devil's pit as that in the 
States?" 

"Well?" answered the traveller, interroga- 
tively. 

" We would make niggers work it." . 

"I dare say," replied Picton, drily and satiri- 
cally; "but, sir, I am proud to say that our 
government does not tolerate barbarity ; to consign 
an inoffensive fellow-creature to such horrible labor, 
merely because he is black, is at variance with the 
well-known humanity of the whole British nation, 



sir." 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 191 

"But those miners, Picton, were black as the 
devil himself." 

"Tlie miners," replied Picton, with impressive 
gravity, " are black, but not negroes." 

" IS^othing but mere white people, Picton ?" 

" Eh ?" said the traveller. 

" Only white people, and therefore we need not 
waste one grain of sympathy over a whole pit full 
of them." 

"Why not?" 

" Because they are not niggers, what is the use of 
wasting sympathy upon a rat-hole fuU of white 
British subjects ?" 

" I tell you what it is," said Picton, " you are 
getting personal." 

We were now rolling past the dingy tenements 
again. Squalid-looking, care-worn women, grimy 
children : 

" To me there's something touching, I confess, 
In the grave look of early thoughtfulness, 
Seen often in some little childish face, 
Among the poor ;" — 

But these children's faces are not such. A child's 
face — God bless it ! should always have a little sun- 
shine in its glance; but these are mere staring faces, 
without expression, that make you shudder and feel 



192 ACADIA, OR A MOl^TH 

sad. Miners by birtL. ; buman moles fitted to bur- 
row in darkness for a Kfe-time. Is it wortb living 
for ? ISTo wonder tbose swart laborers underground 
are so grim and taciturn : no wonder tbere was not 
a face lighted up by tliose smoky lamps in tbe pit, 
tbat bad one line of human sympathy left in its 
rigidly engraved features ! 

But we must have coal, and we must have cotton. 
The whole plantations of the South barely supply 
the press with paper ; and the messenger of intelli- 
gence, the steam-ship, but for coal could not per- 
form its glorious mission. What is to be done. Pic- 
ton ? If every man is willing to give up his morn- 
ing paper, wear a linen shirt, cross the ocean in a 
clipper-ship, and burn wood in an open fireplace, 
something might be done. 

As Picton's steamer (probably fog-bound) had 
not yet arrived in Sydney, nor yet indeed the " Ba- 
laklava," the traveller determined to take a l^ew- 
foundland brigantine for St. John's, from which port 
there are vessels to all parts of the world. After 
leaving horse and jumper with the inn-keeper, we 
took a small boat to one of the many queer looking, 
high-pooped crafts in the harbor, and very soon 
found ourselves in a tiny cabin, panelled with maple, 
in which the captain and some of the men were busy 
over a pan of savory lohseouse, a salt-sea dish of 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 193 

great reputation and flavor. Picton soon made liis 
agreement with the captain for a four days' sail (or 
more) across to the neighboring province, and his 
Inggage was to be on boaixi the next morning. 
Once more we sailed over the bay of Sydney, and 
regained the j)leasant shelter of our inn. 

" Picton," said I, after a comfortable supper and 
a pensive segar, " we shall soon separate for our 
respective homes ; but before we part, I wish to 
say to you how much I ha,ve enjoyed this brief ac- 
quaintance ; perhaps we may never meet again, but 
I trust our short voyage together, will now and 
then be recalled by you, in wdiatever part of the 
world you may chance to be, as it certainly will by 
me." 

The traveller ' replied by a hearty, earnest grasp 
of the hand ; and then, after this formal leave-tak- 
ing, we became suddenly estranged, as it were, sad, 
and silent, and shy ; the familiar tone of conversa- 
tion lost its keynote ; Picton looked out of the inn 
window at the luminous moon-fog on the bay, and 
I buried my reflections in an antiquated pamphlet 
of " Household Words." We were soon inter- 
rupted by a stranger coming into the parlor, a 
chance visitor, another dry, preceese specimen of 
the land of oat-cakes. 

After the usual salutations, the conversation 

9 



194 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

floated easily on, upon indifferent topics, nntil Pic- 
ton happened to allude, casually, to the general 
"banking system of England. This was enough for 
a text. Our visitor immediately launched forth 
upon the subject, and gaed us a twa-hours discourse 
on the system of banking in Scotland ; wherein the 
superiority of the method adopted by his country- 
men, to wring the last drop of interest out a shilling, 
was pertinaciously and dogmatically argued, upon 
the great groundwork of "the general and aib- 
stract preencepels of feenance !" 

It was in vain that the traveller endeavored to 
silence him by a few flashes of sarcasm. He might 
as well have tried to silence a park of artillery with 
a handful of torpedoes ! On and on, with the dog- 
gedness of a slow-hound, the Scot pursued the 
theme, until all other considerations were lost in 
the one sole idea. 

But thus it is always, when you come in contact 
with people of " aibstract preencepels." All sweet 
and tender impulses, all generous and noble sugges- 
tions, all light and shade, all warmth and color, must 
give place to these dry husks of reason. 

" Confound the Scotch interloper," said Picton, 
after our visitor had retired, " what business had he 
to impose upon our good nature, with his thread- 
bare 'aibstract preencepels^' Confound him and 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 195 

his beggarly liigh clieek-bones, and his Caledonian 
pock-pits. I am soriy that I ever came to this part 
of the world ; it has ruined a taste which I had 
acquired, with much labor, for Scottish poetry ; and 
I shall never see ' Burns's Works ' again without a 
feickening shudder." 



196 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHAPTEE XL 

The Bras d'Or Road— Farewell to Picton— Home sweet Home— 
The Rob Roys of Cape Breton— Note and Query— Chapel Island 
— St. Peter's — Enterprise — The Strait of Canseau — West River — 
The last Out-post of the Scottish Chiefs. 

The road that skirts the Arm of Gold is about one 
hundred miles in length. After leaving Sydney, 
you ride beside the Spanish Eiver a short distance, 
until you come to the portage, which separates it 
from the lake, and then you follow the delicious 
curve of the great beach until you arrive at St. 
Peter's. From St. Peter's you travel across a narrow 
strip of land until you reach the shore upon the 
extreme westerly end of the island of Cape Breton, 
where you cross the Strait of Canseau, and then you 
are upon the mainland of I^ova Scotia. I had 
fondly hoped to voyage upon the Bras d'Or, in- 
stead of beside it ; but was obliged to forego that 
pleasure. Bomance, at one dollar per mile, is a dear 
piece of extravagance, even in so ethereal a vehicle 
as a birch-bark canoe. Therefore I engaged a seat 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 197 

in the Cape Breton stage, instead of tlie aboriginal 
conveyance, in wMcli yon have to sit or lie in the 
bottom^ at the risk of an npset, and trust to fair 
weather and the dip of the paddle. 

At day-break (two o'clock in the morning in these 
high latitudes) the stage drove up to the door of our 
pleasant inn. I was speedily dressed, and ready — 
and now — " Good bye, Picton !" 

The traveller stretched out a hand from the warm 
nest in which he was buried. 

" Good bye," he said, with a hearty hand-shake, 
and so we parted. 

It was painful to leave such an agreeable compan- 
ion, but then what a relief it was to escape from the 
cannie Scots ! The first inhalation of the foggy air 
went tingling through every vein ; the first move- 
ment of the stage, as we rolled westward, was inde- 
scribable happiness ; I was at last homeward bound ; 
in full health, in full strength ; swift upon my sight 
came the vision of the one familiar river; the cot- 
tage and the chestnuts ; the rolling greensward, and 
the Palisades ; and there, too, was my lest friend ; 
and there — 

" My young barbarians all at play." 

Drive on, John Ormond ! 

Our Cape Breton stage is an easy, two-seated ve- 



198 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

hide ; a quiet, little rockaway- wagon, with a top ; 
and although H. B. M. Royal Mail Coach, entirely 
different from the huge mnsk-melon upon wheels 
with which we are familiar in the States. In it I 
am the only passenger. Thank Heaven for that ! 
I might be riding beside an aibstract preencepel. 

But never mind ! Drive on, John Ormond ; we 
shall soon be among another race of Scotsmen, the 
bold Highlandmen of romance ; the McGregors, 
and McPhersons, the Camerons, Grahams, and 
McDonalds ; and as a century or so does not alter 
the old-country prejudices of the people in these 
settlements, we will no doubt find them in their 
pristine habiliments ; in plaids and spleuchens ; 
brogues and buckles ; hose and bonnets ; with clay- 
more, dirk, and target ; the white cockade and ea- 
gle feather, so beautiful in the Waverley l^ovels. 

We left the pretty village of Sydney behind us, 
and were not long in gaining the margin of the Bras 
d'Or. This great lake, or rather arm of the sea, is, as 
I have said, about one hundred miles in length by 
its shore road ; but so wide is it, and so indented by 
broad bays and deep coves, that a coasting journey 
around it is equal in extent to a voyage across the 
Atlantic. Besides the distant mountains that rise 
proudly from the remote shores, there are many no- 
ble islands in its expanse, and forest-covered penin- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 199 

sulas, bordered with beaclies of glittering wliite 
pebbles. But over all this wide landscape there 
broods a spirit of primeval solitude ; not a sail broke 
the loneliness of the lake until we had advanced 
far upon our day's journey. For strange as it may 
seem, the Golden Ai-m is a very useless piece of wa- 
ter in this part of the world ; highly favored as it 
is by nature, land-locked, deep enough for vessels 
of all burden, easy of access on the gulf side, free 
from fogs, and only separated from the ocean at its 
western end by a narrow strip of land, about three 
quarters of a mile wide ; abounding in timber, coal, 
and gypsum, and valuable for its fisheries, especial- 
ly in winter, yet the Bras d'Or is undeveloped for 
want of that element which seems to be alien to the 
Colonies, namely, enterj^ise. 

If I had formed some romantic ideas concerning 
the new and strange people we found on the road 
w^e were now travelling, the Highlandmen, the Eob 
Boys and Yich Ian Yohrs of I^ova Scotia, those 
ideas were soon dissipated. It is true here were the 
Celts in their wild settlements, but without bag- 
pipes or pistols, sporrans or philabegs ; there was 
not even a solitary thistle to charm the eye ; and as 
for oats, there were at least two Scotchmen to one 
oat in this garden of exotics. I have a reasonable 
amount of respect for a Highlandman in full cos^ 



200 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

tume ; bnt for a carrot-lieaded, freckled, high- 
cheeked animal, in a round liat and breeches, tliat 
cannot utter a word of English, I have no sympathy^ 
One fellow of this complexion, without a hat, trotted 

beside our coach for several miles, grunting forth 

• 
his infernal Gaelic to John Ormond, with a hah ! to 

every answer of the driver, that was really painfuL 
"When he disappeared in the woods his red head 
went out like a torch. But we had scarcely gone 
by the first Higlilandman, when another darted out 
u23on us from a by-path, and again broke the sab- 
bath of the woods and waters ; and then another 
followed, so that the morning ride by the Bras d'Or 
was fringed with Gaelic. ^NTow I have heard many 
languages in my time, and know how to appreciate 
the luxurious Greek, the stately Latin, the melli- 
flous Chinese, the epithetical Sclavic, the soft Ital- 
ian, the rich Castilian, the sprightly French, sonor- 
ous German, and good old English, but candor com- 
pels me to say, that I do not think much of the 
Gaelic. It is not pleasing to the ear. 

Yet it was a stately ride, that by the Bras d'Or ; 
in one's own coach, as it were, traversing such old 
historic ground. For the very name, and its asso- 
ciations, carry one back to the earliest discoveries 
in America, carry one back behind Plymouth Hock 
to the earlier French adventurers in this hemi- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 201 

sphere ; yea, almost to the times of Ki chard Crook- 
back ; for on the neighboring shores, as the English 
claim, Cabot first landed, and named the place 
Prima Vista, in the days of Henry the Seventh, 
the " Eichmond " of history and tragedy. 

" Le Bras d'Or ! John Ormond, do you not think 
le Bras d'Or sonnds much like Labrador ?" 

" 'Deed does it," answered John. 

"And why not? That mysterious, geological 
coast is only four days' sail from Sydney, I take it ? 
Labrador ! with its auks and puffins, its seals and 
sea-tigers, its whales and walruses ? Why not an 
olfshoot of le Bras d'Or, its earlier brother in the 
family of discovery. But drive on, John Ormond, 
we will leave etymology to the pedants." 

Well, well, ancient or modern, there is not 
a lovelier ride by white-pebbled beach and wide 
stretch of wave. ISTow we roll along amidst pri- 
meval trees, not the evergreens of the sea-coast, 
but familiar growths of maple, beech, birch ; and 
larches, juniper or hacmatack — imperishable for ship 
craft. Kow we cross bridges, over sparkling brooks, 
alive with trout and salmon, and most surprising of 
all, pregnant with water-power. " Surprising," be- 
cause no motive-power can be presented to the eye 
of a citizen of the young republic without the cor- 
responding thought of "Why not use it?" And 

9* 



202 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

why not, wlien Bras d'Or is so near, or the sea-coast 
either, and land at forty cents an acre, and trees as 
closely set, and as lofty, as ever nature planted 
them ? Of a certainty, there would be a thousand 
saw-mills screaming between this and Canseau if a 
drop of Yankee blood had ever fertilized this soil. 

Well, well, perhaps it is well. But yet to ride 
through a hundred miles of denationalized, high- 
cheeked, red, or black-headed Highlandmen, with 
illustrious names, in breeches and round hats, with- 
out pistols or feathers, is a sorry sight, l^ot one of 
these McGregors can earn more than five shillings 
a day, currency, as a laborer. T^ot a digger upon 
our canals but can do better than that ; and with 
the cliance of rising. But here there seems be no 
such opportunity. The colonial system provides 
that every settler shall have a grant of about one 
hundred and twenty acres, in fee, and free. What 
then ? the Government fosters and protects him. 
It sends out annually choice stocks of cattle, at a 
nominal price ; it establishes a tariff of duties on 
foreign goods, so low that the revenue derived there- 
from is not sufficient to pay the salaries of its offi- 
cers. What then ? The colonist is only a parasite 
with all these advantages. He is not an integral 
part of a nation ; a citizen, responsible for his fran- 
chise. He is but a colonial Micmac, or Scotch- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 203 

Mac ; a mere siib-tliouglited, irresponsible exotic, 
in a governmental cold grapery. By the great fore- 
tlno:er of Tom Jefferson, I would rather be a citizen 
of the United States than own all the iive-shilling 
Blue Noses between Sydney and Canseau ! 

As we roll along up hill and down, a startling flash 
of sun-light bursts forth from the dewy morning 
clouds, and touches lake, island, and promontory, 
with inexpressible beauty. Stop, John Ormond, or 
drive slowly ; let us Qn]oj dolce far niente. To hang 
now in our curricle upon this wooded hill- top, over- 
looking the clear surface of the lake, with leafy is- 
land, and peninsula dotted in its dej)ths, in all its 
native grace, without a touch or trace of hand-work, 
far or near, save and except a single spot of sail in 
the far-off, is holy and sublime. 

And there we rested, reverentially impressed 
with the week-day sabbath. We lingered long and 
lovingly upon our woody promontory, our eyrie 
among the spruces of Cape Breton. 

" Clear, placid Leman ! thy contrasted lake, 
With the wild world I dwelt in, is a thing 
Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake 
Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring." 

Down hill go horses and mail-coach, and we are 
lost in a vast avenue of twinkling birches. For 



204 ACADIA, OE AMONTH 

miles we ride within breast-higli hedges of snnny 
shrnbSj nntil we reach another promontory, where 
Bras d'Or again breaks forth, with bay, island, white 
beach, peninsula, and sparkling cove. And before 
lis, bowered in trees, lies Chapel Island, the Mic- 
mac Mecca, with its Catholic Church and conse- 
crated ground. Here at certain seasons the red men 
come to worship the white Christ. Here the west- 
ern descendants of Ishmael pitch their bark tents, 
and swing their barbaric censers before the Asiatic- 
born Redeemer. " They that dwell in the wilder- 
ness shall bow before Him." That gathering must 
be a touching sermon to the heart of faith ! 

But we roll onwards, and now are again on the 
clearings, among the log-cabins of the Highland- 
men. Although every settler has his governmental 
farm, yet nearly the whole of it is still in forest-land. 
A log hut and cleared-acre lot, with Flora Mclvor's 
grubbing, hoeing, or chopping, while their idle lords 
and masters trot beside the mail-coach to hear the 
news, are the only results of the home patronage. 
At last we come to a gentle declivity, a bridge lies 
below us, a wider brook ; we cross over to find a 
cosy inn and a rosy landlord on the other side ; and 
John Ormond lays down the ribbons, after a sixty- 
mile drive, to say : " This is St. Peter's." 

ISTow so far as the old-fashioned inns of ISTew Scot 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 205 

land are concerned, I must say they make me 
asliamed of onr own. Soap, sand, and water, do not 
cost so much as carpets, curtains, and ily-blown mir- 
rors ; but still, to the jaded traveller, they have a 
more attractive aspect. We sit before a snow-white 
table without a cloth, in the inn-parlor, kitchen, 
laundry, and dining-room, all in one, just over 
against the end of the lake ; and enjoy a rasher of 
bacon and eggs with as much gusto as if we were in 
the midst of a palace of fresco. Ornamental eating 
has become with us a sjDecies of gaudy, ostentatious 
vulgarity ; and a dining-room a sort of fool's 
paradise. I never think of the little simple meal at 
St. Peter's now, without tenderness and respect. 

Here we change — driver, stage, and horses. 
Still no other passenger. The new whip is a Yan- 
kee from the State of Maine ; a tall, black-eyed, 
taciturn fellow, with gold rings in his ears. ]^ow 
we pass the narrow strip of land that divides Bras 
d'Or from the ocean. It is only three-quarters of a 
mile wide between water and water, and look at 
Enterprise digging out a canal ! By the bronze sta- 
tue of De "Witt Clinton, if there are not three of the 
five-shilling Rob Roys at work, with two shovels, 
a horse, and one cart ! 

As w^e approach Canseau the landscape becomes 
flat and uninteresting ; but distant ranges of nioun- 



206 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

tains rise up against tlie evening sky, and as we 
travel on towards their bases they attract the eye 
more and more. Ear-rings is not very communica- 
tive. He does not know the names of any of them. 
Does not know how high they are, but has heard 
say they are the highest mountains in lil^ova Scotia. 
" Are those the mountains of Canseau ?" Yes, 
them's them. So with renewed anticipations we ride 
on towards the strait " of unrivalled beauty," that 
travellers say " surpasses anything in America." 

And, indeed, Canseau can have my feeble testi- 
mony in confirmation. It is a grand marine high- 
way, having steep hills on the Cape Breton Island 
side, and lofty mountains on the other shore; a 
full, broad, mile- wide space between them ; and 
reaching from end to end, fifteen miles, from the 
Atlantic to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. As I took 
leave of Ear-rings, at Plaister Cove, and wrapped 
myself up in my cloak in the stern-sheets of the 
row-boat to cross the strait, the full Acadian moon, 
larger than any United States moon, rose out of her 
sea-fog, and touched mountain, height, and billow, 
with effulgence. It was a scene of Miltonic gran- 
deur. After the ruined walls of Louisburgh, and 
the dark caverns of Sydney, comes Canseau, with 
its startling splendors ! Truly this is a wonderful 
country. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 207 

Another niglit iu a clean Nova-Scotian inn on 
tlie nioimtain-side, a deep sleep, and balmy awaken- 
ing in the clear air. Yet some exceptions must be 
taken to the early sun in this latitude. To get up 
at two o'clock or four ; to ride thirty or forty miles 
to breakfast, with a convalescent appetite, is pain- 
ful. But yet, " to him, who in the love of Nature 
holds communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
a various language." Admiration and convalescent 
hunger make a very good team in this beautiful 
country. You look out upon the unfathomable 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, and feel as if you were an 
unfathomable gulf yourself. You ride through 
lofty woods, with a tantalizing profusion of living 
edibles in your path ; at every moment a cock-rab- 
bit is saying his prayers before the horses ; at every 
bosk and bole a squirrel stares at you with unwink- 
ing eyes, and Kobin Yellow-bill ho23s, runs, and 
flies before the coach within reach of the driver's 
whip, sans peur ! And this too is the land of 
moose and cariboo: here the hunters, on snow- 
shoes, track the huge animals in the season ; and 
moose and cariboo, in the Halifax markets, are 
cheaper than beef with us. And to think this 
place is only a four days' journey from the metro- 
polis, in the languid winter ! By the ashes of JNTim- 
rod, I will launch myself on a pair of snow-shoes, 
and shoot a moose in the snow before I ara twelve 



208 AOADIA, ORA MONTH 

montlis older, as sure as these ponies carry ns to 
breakfast ! 

" How far are we from breakfast, driver ?" 

" Twenty miles," quotb Jebu. 

'Now I had been anxious to get a sight of our 
ponies, for the sake of estimating their speed and 
endurance ; but at this time they were not in sight. 
For the coach we (three passengers) were in, was 
built like an omnibus-sleigh on wheels, with a high 
seat and " dasher " in front, so that we could not 
see what it was that drew our ark, and therefore I 
climbed up in the driver's perch to overlook our 
motors. There were four of them; little, shaggy, 
black ponies, with bunchy manes and fetlocks, not 
much larger than ]^ewfoundland dogs. Yet they 
swept us along the road as rapidly as if they were 
full-sized horses, up hill and down, without visible 
signs of fatigue. And now we passed through 
another French settlement, '' Tracadie," and again 
the E"orman kirtle and petticoat of the pastoral, 
black-eyed Evangelines hove in sight, and passed 
like a day-dream. And here we are in an English 
settlement, where we enjoy a substantial breakfast, 
and then again ride through the primeval woods, 
with an occasional glimpse of tlie broad Griilf and 
its mountain scenery, until we come upon a pretty 
inland village, by name Antigonish. 

At Antigonish, we find a bridal jiarty, and the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 209 

pretty English landlady offers ns wine and cake 
with hospitable welcome ; and a joyial time of it 
we have until we are summoned, by crack of whip, 
to ride over to West River. 

I must say that the natural prejudices we have 
against 'Nova Scotia are ill-placed, unjust, and 
groundless. The country itself is the great redeem- 
ing feature of the province, and a very large por- 
tion of it is uninfested by Scotchmen. Take for 
instance the road we are now travelling. For 
hours we bowl along a smooth turnpike, in the 
midst of a deep forest : although scarce a week has 
elapsed since these gigantic trees were leafless, yet 
the foliage has sprung forth as it were with a touch, 
and now the canopy of leaves about us, and over- 
head, is so dense as scarcely to afford a twinkle of 
light from the sun. Sometimes we ride by start- 
ling precipices and winding streams; sometimes 
overlook an English settlement, with its rolling 
pasture-lands, bare of trees and rich in verdure. 
At, last we approach the precincts of I^orthumber- 
land Strait, and are cleverly carried into 'New 
Glasgow. It is fast-day, and the shops are closed 
in Sabbath stillness ; but on the sign-boards of the 
village one reads the historic names of " Ross " and 
" Cameron ;" and " Graham," " McGregor " and 
" McDonald." "What a pleasant thing it must be 



210 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

to live in that village ! Here too I saw for the first 
time in the province a thistle ! But it was a silver- 
plated one, in the blue bonnet of a Apothecary's 
boy." A metallic effigy of the oeiginal plant, 
that had bloomed some generations ago in native 
land. There was poetry in it, however, even on 
the brow of an incipient apothecary. 

When we had put 'New Glasgow behind us, we 
felt relieved, and rode along the marshes on the 
border of the strait that divides the Province from 
Prince Edward's Island, so named in honor of his 
graceless highness the Duke of Kent, Edward, fa- 
ther of our Queen Victoria. Thence we came forth 
upon higher ground, the coal-mines of Pictou ; and 
here is the great Pictou railway, from the mines to 
the town, six miles in length. Tlien by rolling 
hill and dale down to "West Piver, where John 
Erazer keeps the Twelve-Mile House. This inn is 
clean and commodious ; only twelve miles from 
Pictou ; and, reader, I would advise you, as twelve 
miles is but a short distance, to go to Pictou with- 
out stopping at West Piver. For John Erazer's is 
a house of petty annoyances. Erom the moment 
you enter, you feel the insolence of the surly, snarl- 
ing landlord, and his no less gifted lady ; the same 
old greed which has no eye except for money ; the 
miserly table, for which you are obliged to pay be- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 211 

fore hand ; the lack of attendance ; the abundance 
of impertinence. Just as you are getting into bed 
you are peremptorily called to the door to pay for 
your room, which haply you had forgotten ; if you 
want your boots brushed the answer is, "Perhaps" 
— if you request them to call you in the morning, 
for the only stage, they say, " Just as it happens ;" 
(indeed, it was only by accident that the stage- 
driver discovered he had one more trunk than his 
complement of passengers, and so awoke me just as 
the coach was on the point of departure ;) if you 
can submit to all this, then, reader, go to Twelve- 
Mile House, at West River. 

"We left this last outpost of the Scotch settlements 
with pleasure. After all, there is a secret feeling 
of joy in contrasting one's self with such wretched, 
penurious, mis-made specimens of the human ani- 
mal. And from this time henceforth I shall learn 
to prize my own language, and not be carried away 
by any catch-penny Scotch synonyms, such as the 
lift for the sky, and the gloamin for twilight. And 
as for poortith ccmld^ and j^auky chiel^ I leave them 
to those who can appreciate them ; 

"Farewell, farewell, beggarly Scotland, 
Cold aad beggarly poor countrie ; 
If ever I cross thy border again, 
The niuckle deil maun carry me." 



212 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Ride from West River — A Fellow Passenger — ^Parallels of His- 
tory — One Hundred Romances— Baron de Castine — His Character 
— Made Chief of the Abenaquis^Duke of York's Charter — 
Encroachments of the Puritans-— Church's Indian Wars — False 
Reports — Reflections. 

It would make a curious collection of pictures if 
I had obtained photographs of all the coaches 
I travelled in, and upon, during mj brief sojourn 
in the province ; some high, some low, some red, 
some green, or yellow as it chanced, with horses few 
or many, often superior animals — stylish, fast, and 
sound ; and again, the most diminutive of ponies, 
such as Monsieur the Clown drives into the ring of 
his canvass coliseum when he utters the pleasant 
salute of "Here I am, with all my little family?" 
Tliis morning we have the old, familiar stage-coach 
of Yankee land — ^red, picked out with yellow ; high, 
narrow, iron steps; broad thoroughbraces ; wide 
seats ; all jingle, tip, tilt, and rock, from one end of 
the road to the other. My fellow traveller on the box 
is a little man with a big hat ; soft spoken, sweet 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 213 

voiced, and excessively shy and modest. But this 
was a most pleasing change from the experiences 
of the last few hours, let me tell jou ; and, if you 
ever travel by West Eiver, you will find any 
change pleasant — no matter what. 

My companion was shy, but not taciturn ; on 
the contrary, he could talk well enough after the 
ice was broken, and long enoughj too, for that mat- 
ter. I found that he was a Church of England 
clergyman by profession, and a Welshman by birth. 
He was well versed in the earlier history of the 
colony — ^that portion of it which is by far the most 
interesting — I mean its French or Acadian period. 
"There are in the traditions and scattered frag- 
ments of history that yet survive in this once un- 
happy land," he said, in a peculiarly low and melli- 
fluous voice, " much that deserves to be embalmed 
in story and in poetry. Your Longfellow has 
already preserved one of the most touching of its 
incidients ; but I think I am safe in asserting that 
there yet remain the materials of one hundred 
romances. Take the whole history of Acadia 
during the seventeenth century — the almost patri- 
archal simplicity of its society, the kindness, the 
innocence, the virtues of its people ; the universal 
toleration which prevailed among them, in spite of 
the interference of the home government; look," 



214: ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

said he, " at the perfect and abiding faith which 
existed between them and the Indians ! Does the 
world-renowned storj of William Penn alone merit 
onr encominms, except that we have forgotten this 
earlier but not less beautiful example ? And with the 
true spirit of Christianity, when they refused to take 
up arms in their own defence, preferring rather to 
die by their faith than shed the blood of other men ; 
to what parallel in history can we turn, if not to the 
martyred Hussites, for whom humanity has not yet 
dried all its tears ?" 

As he said this, a little flush passed over his face, 
and he appeared for a moment as if surprised at 
his own enthusiasm ; then shrinking under his big 
hat again, he relapsed into silence. 

We rode on for some time without a word on 
either side, until I ventured to remark that I coin- 
cided with him in the belief that Acadia was the 
romantic ground of early discovery in America ; 
and that even the fluent pen of Hawthorne had 
failed to lend a charm to the harsh, repulsive, acri- 
monious features of IS'ew England's colonial history. 

" I have read but one book of Hawthorne's," said 
he — ' The Scarlet Letter.' I do not coincide with 
you ; I think that to be a remarkable instance of 
the triumph of genius over difficulties. By the 
way," said he, " speaking of authors, what an ex- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 215 

quisite poem Tom Moore would have written, liad 
he visited Chaj)el Island, which yon have seen no 
doubt ? (here he gave a little nod with the big hat) 
and what a rich volume would have dropped from 
the arabesque pen of your own Irving (another 
nod), had he written the life of the Baron de St. 
Castine, chief of the Abenaquis, as he did that of 
Philip of Pokanoket." 

" Do you know the particulars of that history ?" 
said I. 

" I do not know the particulars," he replied, 
" only the outlines derived from chronicle and tra- 
dition. Imagination," he added, with a faint smile, 
" can supply the rest, just as an engineer pacing a 
bastion can draw from it the proportions of the rest 
of the fortress." 

And then, from under the shelter of the big hat, 
there came low and sad tones of music, like a 
requiem over a bier, upon which are laid funeral 
flowers, and sword, and plume ; a melancholy voice 
almost intoning the history of a Christian hero, who 
had been the chief of that powerful nation — the 
rightful owners of the fair lands around us. Even 
if memory could now supply the words, it would 
fail to reproduce the eflect conveyed by the tones 
of that voice. And of the story itself I can but 
furnish the faint outlines : 



216 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

FAINT OUTLINES. 

Baron de St. Castine, chief of the Abenaquis, was 
a Frenchman, born in the little village of Oberon, 
in the province of Bearn, about the middle of the 
seventeenth century. Three great influences con- 
spired to make him unhappy — ^first, education, 
which at that time was held to be a reputable part 
of the discipline of the scions of noble families ; 
next, a delicate and impressible mind, and lastly, 
he was born under the shadow of the Pyrenees, 
and within sight of the Atlantic. He had also 
served in the wars of Louis XIY. as colonel of the 
Carrignan, Cavignon, or Corignon regiment ; there- 
fore, from his military education, was formed to 
endure, or to think lightly of hardships. Although 
not by profession a Protestant, yet he was a 
liberal Catholic. The doctrines of Calvin had been 
spread throughout the province during his youth, 
and John la Placette, a native of Beam, was then 
one of the leaders of the free churches of Copen- 
hagen, in Denmark, and of Utrecht, in Holland. 

But, whatever his religious prejudices may 
have been, they do not intrude themselves in 
any part of his career ; we know him only 
as a pure Christian, an upright man, and a 
faithful friend of humanity. Like many other 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 217 

Frencliineii of birth and education in those days, 
the Baron de St. Castine had been attracted by 
descriptions of newly discovered countries in the 
western hemisphere, and fascinated by the ideal 
life of the children of nature. To a mind-at once sus- 
ceptible and heroic, impulsive by temperament, and 
disciplined to endure, such promptings have a 
charm that is irresistible. As the chronicler 
relates, he preferred the forests of Acadia, to the 
Pyrenian mountains that compassed the place of 
his nativity, and taking up his abode with the 
savages, on the first year behaved himself so 
among them as to draw from them their inexpressi- 
ble esteem. He married a woman of the nation, 
and repudiating their example, did not change his 
wife, by which he taught his wild neighbors that 
<jrod did not love inconstancy. By this woman, 
his first and only wife, he had one son and 
two daughters, the latter were afterwards mar- 
ried, " very handsomely, to Frenchmen, and had 
good dowries." Of the son there in preserved 
a single touching incident. In person the baron 
was strikingly handsome, a fine form, a well 
featured face, with a noble expression of candor, 
firmness and benevolence. Possessed of an ample 
fortune, he used it to enlarge the com.forts of the 
people of his adoption ; these making him a recom- 

10 



218 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

pense in beaver skins and other ricli furs, from 
which he drew a still larger revenue, to be in turn 
again devoted to the objects of his benevolence. It 
was said of him, "that he can draw from his 
coffers two or three hundred thousand crowns of 
good dry gold ; but all the use he makes of it is to 
buy presents for \i\^ fellow savages^ who, upon their 
return from hunting, present him with skins to 
treble the value." 

Is it then surprising that this man, so wise, so 
good, so faithful to his fellow savages^ should, after 
twenty years, rise to the most eminent station in 
that unsophisticated nation? That indeed these 
simple Indians, who knew no arts except those of 
peace and war, should have looked up to him as 
their tutular god ? By the treaty of Breda, the 
lands from the Penobscots to !Nova Scotia had been 
ceded to France, in exchange for the island of St, 
Christopher. Upon these lands the Baron de St. 
Castine had peacefully resided for many years, 
imtil a new patent was granted to the Duke of 
York, the boundaries of which extended beyond 
the limits of the lands ceded by the treaty. Oh, 
those patents I those patente ! "What wrongs were 
perpetrated by those remorseless instruments ; what 
evil councils prevailed when they were hatched; 
what corrupt, what base, what knavish hands 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 219 

formed them ; what vile, what ignoble, what pon- 
derous lies has history assumed to maintain, or to 
excuse them, and the acts committed under them? 

The first English aggression after the treaty, was 
but a trifling one in respect to immediate effects. 
A quantity of wine having been landed by a 
French vessel upon the lands covered by the patent, 
was seized by the Duke of York's agents. This, upon 
a proper representation by the French ambassador 
at the court of Charles 11., was restored to the right- 
ful owners. But thereupon a new boundary line 
was run, and the whole of Castine^s j^lantations 
included within it. Immediately after this, the 
Rose frigate, under the command of Captain An- 
dross, sailed up the Penobscot, plundered and des- 
troyed Castine's house and fort, and sailed away 
with all his arms and goods. ISTot only this, in- 
truders from other quarters invaded the lands of 
the Indians, took possession of the rivers, and 
spoiled the fisheries with seines, turned their cattle 
in to devour the standing corn of the Abenaquis, 
and committed other depredations, which, although 
complained of, were neither inquired into nor 
redressed. 

Then came reprisals ; and first the savages retali- 
ated by killing the cattle of their enemies. Then 
followed those fearful and bloody campaigns, which, 



220 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

under the name of Churcli's Indian Wars, disgrace 
the early annals of 'New England. Mght surprises, 
butcheries that spared neither age nor sex, prison- 
ers taken and sold abroad into slavery, after the 
glut of revenge was satiated, these to return and 
bring with them an inextinguishable hatred against 
the English, and desire of revenge. Anon a con- 
spiracy and the surprisal of Dover, accompanied 
with all the appalling features of barbaric warfare 
— ^Major Waldron being tied down by the Indians 
in his own arm-chair, and each one of them draw- 
ing a sharp knife across his breast, says with the 
stroke, " Thus I cross out my account ;" these, and 
other atrocities, on either side, constitute the prin- 
cipal records of a Christian people, who professed 
to be only pilgrims and sojourners in a strange 
land — the victims of persecution in their own. 

During all this dark and bloody period, no 
name is more conspicuous in the annals than 
that of the Chief of the Abenaquis. Like a 
frightful ogre, he hovers in the background, 
deadly and ubiquitous — the terror of the colonies. 
It was he who had stirred up the Indians to do the 
work. Then come reports of a massacre in some 
town on the frontier, and with it is coupled a whis- 
per of " Castine !" a fort has been surprised, he is 
there ! Some of Church's men have fallen in an 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 221 

ambuscade ; tlie baron bas planned it, and fur- 
nisbed tbe arms and ammunition by wbicb tbe 
deed was consummated ! Superstition invests bim 
witb imaginary powers ; fanaticism exclaims, 'tis be 
wbo bad taugbt tbe savages to believe tbat we are 
tbe people wbo crucified tbe Saviour. 

But in spite of all tbese stories, tbe wonderful 
Bernese is not captured, nor indeed seen by any, 
except tbat sometimes an Englisb prisoner escap- 
ing from tbe enemy, comes to tell of bis clemency 
and tenderness ; be bas bound up tbe wounds of 
tbese, be bas saved tbe lives of tbose. At last a 
small settlement of Frencb and Indians is attacked 
by Cburcb's men at Penobscot, every person tbere 
being eitber killed or taken prisoner; among tbe 
latter a daugbter of tbe great baron, witb ber cbil- 
dren, from wliom tbey learn tbat ber unbappy 
fatber, ruined and broken-bearted, bad returned to 
France, tbe victim of persecutors, wbo, under tbe 
name of saints, exbibited a cruelty and rapacity 
tbat would bave disgraced tbe reputation of a Pbi- 
lip or an Alva ! 

" It is a matter of surprise to tbe bistorical 
student," said tbe little man, " tbat witb a people 
like yours, so conspicuous in many rare examples 
of erudition, tbat tbe bistory of Acadia bas not 
merited a closer attention, tbrowing as it does so 



222 ACADIA, ORAMONTH 

strong a reflective light upon your own. Sucli a 
task doubtless does not present many inyiting fea- 
tures, especially to those who would preserve, at 
any sacrifice of truth, the earlier pages of discovery 
in America, pure, spotless, and unsullied. But I 
think this dark, tragic background would set off all 
the brighter the characters of those really good 
men who flourished in that period, of whom there 
were no doubt many, although now obscured by the 
dull, dead moonshine of indiscriminate forefathers' 
flattery. I know very well that in some regards 
we might copy the example of a few of the first 
planters of l^ew England, but for the rest I believe 
with Adam Clark, that for the sake of humanity, it 
were better that such ages should never return." 

"We talk much," says he, "of ancient man- 
ners, their simplicity and ingenuousness^ and 
say that the former days were hetter than 
these. But who says this who is a judge of the 
times? In those days of celebrated simplicity, 
there were not so ma/ny crimes as at present, I 
grant ; but what they wanted in number^ they made 
up in degree ', deceit^ cruelty^ rofpine^ murder., and 
wrong of almost every kind, then flourished. We are 
refined in our vices, they were gross and harharous in 
theirs. They had neither so many ways nor so many 
means of sinning ; but the sum of their moral turpi- 



ACADIA, OR A MONTH 2:"> 

tude was greater than ours. We have a sort of 
decency and good Ireeding^ which lay a certain 
restraint on onr passions; they were boorish and 
beastly, and their bad passions ever in full play. 
Civilization prevents barbarity and atrocity ; men- 
tal cultivation induces decency of manners— those 
primitive times were generally without these. 
Who that knows them would wish such ages to 
return ?"* 

* Adam Clark's " Commentary on Book of Kings." II. Samuel^ 
chap. iiL 



224 A A T) 1 A . O II A M O N T U 



(t II A VTK K X r I I. 

Tnifo ()i) llic Coiul U) IliiliCiix -Di'ivd Jo i]w licll A MomlnT of 
Hid li'urMil^iT TjOg'i(Mr>— Tr»Mli Wil. nt. (fovcrnnwMit lOxpmwo — Th© 
lii'Ml, Hnillti of (Ji<( l,(';!,i(>ir 'I'iMi I'oiiikIm Iki'ward Sir John (JiiM- 
piii'd's li(<von^(i-- 'I'lio SliiilM'ivMicmlio hiiUoH — Diutinoiilli l''(MTy, 
,iu(l (he II<»I,(«1 VViiV(irl(>y. 

Tmoasani' 'riiii-<» ! Al I.'umI. wo rv.^uln t\\v. turriloricB 
of civility juhI civllizatiou 1 llivrc in t.Iiv; lionost 
liltlo Mii^linli inn, with ils (•i\iHMTiil diiilni;' I'oom, 
itn clean s|>i'(!:i(l, ils :iJ)inulanl, disln^s, iJH ij;'i!iir^rt of 
n|)(^ uU), ilf^ |»lo!isc(l jtljicrihy (d' siM'vico. Al'lci- our 
loiii;' iM(I(^ from West Uivor, w'c i'njoy llic Ix^st 
inirK hrsl. rooiiu ll\(^ o>i80, l'.l»r romlorl., jukI llio fjiir 
niHptK't of (MK* (>r tin; i>rxvltl(>sl. lowiis in tin* pro- 
viiicc. 'IViir** is siliialrd <m» IIk.^ Ix^ad \\at(M'S(>r llui 
ItM'HJii <>r Minas, or (\)hc(nii«l l»ay, ns It is drnoini- 
iialod oi» tlio ina|>, Ix'lwrvn tlio SliuIxMiacadic* an<! 
Salmon riNcrs. lloi\'! wo jii'o wiilun lil'ty niiloH of 
llin idyllic land, ilic pastoral nn^adows of (Ji'JUul 
i^rol l>nl, alas! {\\v\\> is yol a loni;- rido l)cl'()rc ns; 
tllO ])all» iVom 'iVnro to ({rand !*!•('' IxMni;* in lli(\ 
Blum«^ o[' an ucnlo au^U\ of wliicli llHlifax is the 



W [ T II T II K M I. (I K N OM MS. 225 

U])('\. Ah yot, tliuru iw iio dirucl. roud IVoni ])ljicu to 
pliicc, hill, Ity iJio Hhoi'cH of iliu IJjiHin ol' MimiH. Lot 
liH look, liowcvcr, ill; pk^uHUiit Truro. 

Out! of llu! Hli'ikiiig ruaturciB of thin j)Jiri of iJicj 
(M>iiiili-y is I lie, jx'-cullurity of tlu^ rivci'H; ilicHi! nro 
I'lill (»r (;iii|»ly, willi ovt^i'y Mux aiid rclliix ol' llio 
tide, ; lor iiiKljiiicc, wlion W(5 croKKcid ilu! Sjdnioii, 
wo HJiAV only Ji lil;:,'li, hroiul, iniiddy ditcli, dr-'iIiKMJ 
io I, lie, vci'y bolioiii. TIiIh Ih owiti^i," to lli<! o('-(!jm 
tid(W, wlii(;li, H\vo(!|)iii;^- ii|) iJio I'jiy of h'midy, |)oiir 
into tlio Bjihim ol' MiiiJiH, ;iiid lill nil \\h trlhulury 
Htrcuiiis; iJicii, wilJi )>rodi^;jd niiurtioii, HW(;(5j)in^ 
I'oi'tli Ji^'jiiii, l(!ii,v(i only iJu^ vjicjint cliumiolH (A' 
lJi(5 riv(5i'H — il' tlicy niiiy ho culUid hy lliitl. nnino. 
TIiIh |H'ciillMf r('}il-iii'(5 ol' liy<li*oo'rji|tljy in ol' coiirHo 
Io('hI — liiiiilcd 1,0 tliin HooMoii ol' llio province; — 
indeed if il, h(! iiol, to thin cornci- of the, vvoi'Id. 
Th(; coiinli-y Hiirroiiiidiii;^- llio vilhi.^'o Ih well culti- 
VJittMJ, (liv(5rHilio(l will) rolling" hill mikI duh;, und 
}dthoii<i,li I IiikI not tho oj»j)ortiiiiil y of Htic.in^ much 
of it, yot th{5 incro d(iHc-nj)tion of il.H natiind Hctuiory 
watt 8n(fici(5ntly tcniptin^. II<',ro, too, I hsiw Hoini;- 
Ihini:' th.'it rc.inindcd nicoj'honio ;i, cliiiiii) of ctMhu*- 
trocHl Thcrt<5 ol' cohi'ho won; cxoticH, l)roii/^lit, not 
witlioiit exponso, l'i<»ni the, Stjitcis, phmtcd in thcj 
courtyurd <»!' a litth; arlHtocrsitic cottiigo, :tnd pro- 
tected ill winter hy warni overcoatH of wiieat Htraw. 

10* 



226 AGADIA, OK A MONTH 

So we go ! Here they grub up larches and spruces 
to plant cedars. 

The mail coach was soon at the door of our inn, 
and after taking leave of my fellow-traveller with 
the big hat, I engaged a seat on the stage-box 
beside Jeangros, a French Canadian, or Canuck — 
one of the best whips on the line. Jeangros is not 
a great portly fellow, as his name would seem to 
indicate, but a spare, small man — nevertheless with 
an air of great courage and command. Jeangros 
touched up the leaders, the mail-coach rattled 
through the street of the town, and off we trotted 
from Truro into the pleasant road that leads to 
Halifax. 

One thing I observed in the province especially 
worthy of imitation — the old English practice of 
turning to the left in driving, instead of to the 
rights as we do. Let me exhibit the merits of the 
respective systems by a brief diagram. By the 
English system they drive tlius : 






The arrows represent the drivers, as well as the 
directions of the vehicles ; of course when two 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 



227 



vehicles, coming in opposite directions, pass each 
other on the road, each driver is nearest the point of 
contact, and can see readily, and provide against ac- 
cidents. Now contrast our system with the former : 



i 




no wonder we have so many collisions. 

" The rule of the road is a paradox quite, 
In driving your carriage along, 
If you keep to the left, you are sure to go right, 
If you keep to the right, you go wrong." 

It would be a good thing if our present senseless 
laws were reversed in this matter, and a few lives 
saved, and a few broken limbs prevented. 

When I took leave of my native country for a 
short sojourn in this province, the great question 
then before the public was the invasion of interna- 
tional law, by the British minister and a whole 
solar system of British consuls. I had the pleasure 
of being a fellow exile on the Canada with Mr. 

Crampton, Mr. Barclay, and Mr. , Her British 

Majesty's representatives, and of course felt no little 
interest to know the fate of the Foreign Legion. 



228 ACADIA, OE A MONTH 

Before I left Halifax, I learned some particulars 
of that famous flock of jail birds. All tliat we 
knew, at home, was that a number of recruits for 
the Crimea had been picked up in the streets and 
alleys of Columbia, and carried, at an enormous 
expense, to Halifax, there to be enrolled. And 
also, that as a mere cover to this infraction of the 
law of l^eutrality, the men were engaged as labor- 
ers, to work upon the public improvements of IN^ova 
Scotia. The sequel of that enterprise remained to 
be told. A majority of these recruits were L*ish- 
men — some of them not wanting in the mother wit 
of the race. So when, they were gathered in the 
great province building at Halifax, and Sir John 
Gaspard le Marchant, in chapeau, feather and sword, 
came down to review his levies, with great spirit 
and military pomp, "TVell, my men," said he, "you 
are here to enlist, eh, and serve Her Majesty?" 
To which the spokesman of the Foreign Legion, 
fully understanding the beauty of his position, 
replied, with a sly twinkle of the eye, " We didn't 
engage to 'list at all, at all, but to wurruk on the rail- 
road." Upon which Sir John Gaspard, seeing that 
Her Majesty had been imposed upon, politely told 
the legion to go to ^Dante's Inferno. 

JSTow whether the place to which the Foreign 
Legion was consigned by Sir John Gaspard, pos- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 



229 



sessed even less attractions than Halifax, or from 
wliatever reason soever, it chanced that the jolly 
boys, raked from our alleys and jails, never stirred 
a foot out of the province ; and while the peace of 
the whole world was endangered by their abduc- 
tion, as that of Greece and Troy had been by the 
rape of Helen, they were quietly enlisting in less 
warlike expeditions— in fact, engaging themselves 
to work upon that great railroad, of which mention 
has been made heretofore. 

Now we have seen something of the clannish 
propensities of the people of the colonies, and the 
contractors knew what sort of material they had 
to deal with. And, inasmuch as there was a 
pretty large group of five-shilling Highlandmen, 
grading, levelling, and filling in one end of a sec- 
tion of the road, the gang of Irishmen was placed 
at the opposite end, as far from them as possi- 
ble, which no doubt would have preserved peace- 
ful relations between the two, but for the fact, that 
as the work progressed the hostile forces naturally 
approached each other. It was towards the close 
of a summer evening, that the ground was broken 
by the gentlemen of the shamrock, within sight of 
the shanties decorated with the honorable order of 
the thistle. A lovely evening in the month of 
June ! Not with spumy cannon and prickly bayo- 



230 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

nets, but with peaceful spade and mattock, ad- 
vanced the sons of St. Patrick towards the children 
of a sister isle. Then did Roderick Dhu step forth 
from his shantj, and inquire, in choice Gaelic, if a 
person named Brian Borheime was in the ranks of 
the approaching forces. Then then did Brian 
Borheime advance, spade in hand, and with a sin- 
gle spat of his implement level Roderick, as though 
he had been a piece of turf. Then was Brian 
flattened out by the spade of Yich Ian Yohr ; and 
Yich Ian Yohr, by the spade of Captain Rock. 
Then fell Captain Rock by the spade of Rob Roy ; 
and Rob Roy smelt the earth under the spade of 
Handy Andy. In a word, the fight became 
general — ^tlie bagpipe blew to arms — Celt joined 
Celt, there was the tug of war ; but the sun set 
upon the lowered standard of the thistle, and vic- 
tory proclaimed Shamrock the conqueror. Several 
of the natives were left for dead upon the field of 
battle, the triumphant Irish ran away, to a man, 
to avoid the consequences, and I blush to say it, 
as I do to record any act of heartless ingratitude, 
handbills were speedily posted up by the order of 
government, ofi*ering a reward of ten pounds apiece 
for the capture of certain members of the Foreign 
Legion, who had been the ringleaders in the riot, 
which handbill was not only signed by that seducer 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 231 

of soldiers, Sir Jolm Gaspard le Marchant, but also 
ornamented with the horn of the unicorn and the 
claws of the British lion. 

But there is a Nemesis even in Kova Scotia, for 
this riot produced eifects, unwonted and unlooked 
for. One of the prominent leaders in the E'ova 
Scotia Parliament, a gentleman distinguished both 
as an orator and as a poet — the Hon. Joseph Howe, 
who had signalized himself as an advocate of the 
right of Her Majesty to recruit for the Crimea in 
the streets of Columbia, and was ready to pit the 
British Lion against the American Eagle in support 
of that right, fell by the very legion he had been so 
zealous to create. The Hon. Joseph Howe, M. P., 
by the support of the Irish population, could always 
command a popular majority and keep his seat in 
the house, so long as he maintained his loyalty to 
this votive class of citizens. But, unfortunately, 
Hon. Joseph Howe, in alluding to the riot, took the 
Scotch side of the broil. This was sufficient. At 
the election following he was a defeated candidate, 
and politely advised to retire to private life. Thus 
was the Hon. J. H. " hoist by his own petard," the 
first man to fall by this expensive military com- 
pany. 

An adventure upon the Shubenacadie brought 
one of these heroes into prominent relief. After 



232 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

we had parted from pleasant Truro, at every nook 
and corner of the road, there seemed to be a pas- 
senger waiting for the Halifax coach. So that the 
top of the vehicle was soon filled with dusty fellow- 
travellers, and Jeangros was getting to be a little 
impatient. Just as we turned into the densest part 
of the forest, where the evening sun was most 
obscured by the close foliage, we saw two men, one 
decorated with a pair of handcuffs, and the other 
armed with a brace of pistols. The latter hailed 
the coach. 

"What d'ye want?" quoth Jeangros, drawing up 
by the roadside. 

" Government prisoner," said the man with the 
pistols. 

"What the is government prisoner to me?" 

quoth Jeangros. 

" I want to take him to Dartmouth," said the tall 
policeman. 

"Then take him there," said our jolly driver, 
shaking up the leaders. 

" Hold up," shouted out the tall policeman, " I 
will pay his fare." 

" Why didn't you say so, then ?" replied Jean- 
gros, full of the dignity of his position as driver of 
H. B. M. Mail-coach, before whose tin horn every- 
thing must get out of the way. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 233 

There was a doubt wliich was the drunkenest, 
the officer or the prisoner. We found out after- 
wards that the officer had conciliated his captive 
with drink, partly to keep him friendly in case of 
an attempted rescue, and partly to get him in such 
a state that running away would be impracticable. 
And, indeed, there would have been a great race 
if the prisoner had attempted to escape. The 
prisoner too drunk to run — the officer too drunk to 
pursue. 

The pair had scarcely crawled up among the lug- 
gage upon the stage-top, before there was an out- 
cry from the passengers on the box in front — 
"Uncock your pistols! uncock your pistols!" for 
the officer had dropped his fire-arms, cocked and 
capped, upon the top of our coach, with the 
muzzles pointed towards us. And indeed I may 
affirm here, that I never saw metallic cylinders 
with more menacing aspect, than those which lay 
quietly behind us, ready to explode— unconscious 
instruments as they were — and carry any of the 
party into the next world upon the slightest lurch 
of the stage-coach. 

" Uncock your pistols," said the passengers. 

But the officer, in the mellifluous dialect of his 

mother country, replied that " He'd be if he 

would. Me prishner," said he, "me prishner 



234: ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

might escape ; or, the divil knows but there might 
be a rescue come to him, for there's a good manj 
of the same hereabouts." 

It struck me that no person upon the top of the 
stage-coach was so particularly interested in this 
dispute as the member of the Foreign Legion, 
who was on his way either to the gallows or a per- 
petual prison. I observed that he nervously 
twitched at his handcuffs, perhaps^ — as I thought — 
to prepare for escape in case of an explosion ; or 
else to be ready for the rescue ; or else to take 
advantage of his captor, the tall policeman — jump 
from the stage, and run for dear life and liberty. 
Never was I more mistaken. True to his race, and 
to tradition, Pat was only striving to free himself 
from the leather shackles, in order to fight any man 
who was an enemy to his friend the policeman, and 
the pistols, that were cocked to shoot himself. But 
had not poor Paddy made such blunders in all times f 
The hubbub increased, a terrific contest was im- 
pending; the travellers below poked their heads 
out of the windows ; there was every prospect of a 
catastrophe of some kind, when suddenly Jeangros 
rose to his feet, and said, in a voice clear and 
sharp through the tumult as an electric flash 
through a storm, " uncock those jpistols^ or I will 
throw you from the toj^ of the coach P^ 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 235 

There was a pause instantly, and we heard the 
sharp click of the cocks, as they were lowered in 
obedience to the little stage-driver. It had a won- 
derful power of command, that voice — soft and 
clear, but brief, decisive, authoritative. 

It is quite interesting to ride fellow-passenger 
with a person who has played a part in the national 
drama, but more villainous face I never saw. 
Mr. Crampton, with whom I sailed on the Canada, 
had a much more amiable expression; indeed I 
think we should all be obliged to him for rid- 
ding us of at least a portion of his fellow-country- 
men. 

But now we ride by the Shubenacadie lakes, a 
chain — a bracelet — ^binding the province from the 
Basin of Minas to the seaboard. The eye never 
tires of this lovely feature of Acadia. Lake above 
lake — the division, the isthmus between, not wider 
than the breadth of your India shawl, my lady ! I 
must declare that, all in all, the scenery of the pro- 
vince is surpassingly beautiful. As you ride by 
these sparkling waters, through the flowery, bowery, 
woods, you feel as if you like to pitch tent here — at 
least for the summer. 

And now we approach a rustic inn by the road-' 
side, rich in slirubbery before it, and green moss 
from ridge-pole to low drooping eaves, where we 



236 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

cliange horses. And as we rest here upon the 
wooden inn-porch, dismounted from onr high perch 
on the stage-coach, we see right above iis against the 
clear evening sky. Her Majesty's oi-devant partisan, 
now prisoner — by merit raised to that bad emi- 
nence. The officer hands him a glass of brandy, to 
keej) np his spirits. The prisoner takes it, and, 
lifting the glass high in air, shouts out with the 
exultation of a fiend ; 

" Here's to the hinges of liberty — may they never want oil, 
Nor an Orangeman's bones in a pot for to boil." 

Once more upon the stage to Dartmouth, 
where we deposit our precious fellow-travellers, 
and then to the ferry, and look you ! across the 
harbor, the twinkling lights of dear old mouldy 
Halifax. And now we are crossing Chebucto, and 
the cab carries us again to our former quarters in 
the Hotel "Waverley. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 237 



CHAPTER XIY. 

Halifax again— Hotel Waverley— " Gone the Old Familiar Facea" 
— ^The Story of Marie de la Tour. 

Again in old quarters! It is strange how we 
become attached to a place, be it wliat it may, if 
we only have known it before. The same old 
room we occupied years ago, however comfortless 
then, has a familiar air of w^elcome now. There is 
surely some little trace of self, some unseen 
spider-thread of attachment clinging to tlie walls, 
the old chair, the forlorn wash-stand, and the 
knobby four-poster, that holds the hardest of beds, 
the most consumptive of pillows, and a bolster as 
round, as white, and as hard, as a cathedral mass- 
candle. Heigho, Hotel "Waverley! Here am I 
again ; but where are the familiar faces ? Where 
the brave soldier of Inkerman and Balaklava? 
Where the jolly old Captain of the native rifles ? 
Where the Colonel, with iiis little meerschaum 
pipe he was so intent upon coloring ? Where the 
party of salmon-fishermen, the Solomons of pisca- 
tology ? Where the passengers by the " Canada ? 



238 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

And where is Picton? Gone, like last year's 
birds !" 

" A glass of ale, Henry, and one cigar, only one ^ 
I wish to be solitary." 

I like this bed-room of mine at the Waverley, 
with its blue and white striped curtain at the win- 
dow, through which the gas-lights of Halifax 
streets appear in lucid spots, as I wait for Henry, 
with the candles, l^ow I am no longer alone. I 
shut my chamber door, as it were, upon one world, 
only that I may enjoy another. So I trim the can- 
dles, and spread out the writing materials, and at 
once the characters of two centuries ago awake, 
and their life to me is as the life of to-day. 

There is nothing more captivating in literature, 
than the narrative of some heroic deed of woman. 
Yery few such are recorded ; how many might be, 
if the actors themselves had not shunned notoriety, 
and " uncommended died," rather than encounter 
the ordeal of public praise ? Of such the poet has 
written : 

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 

Of such, many have lived and died, to live again 
only in fiction; whereas their own true histories 
would have been greater than the inventions of 
authors. We read of heroes laden with the " glit- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 239 

tering spoils of empire," but the heroic deeds of 
woman are oftentimes, all in all, as great, without 
the glitter ; without the pomp and pageantry of 
triumphal processions; without the pealing trum- 
pet of renown. Boadicea, chained to the car of 
Suetonius, is the too common memorial of heroic 
womanity. 

The story I relate is but a transcript, a mere epi- 
sode in the sad history of Acadia : yet the record 
will be pleasing to those who estimate the merits of 
brave women. This, then, is the legend of 

MAEIE DE LA TOUR. 

In the year 1621, Sir "William Alexander, after- 
wards Earl of Sterling,* a romantic poet, and 
favorite of King James I., was j)resented by that 
monarch with a patent to all the land known as 
Acadia, in the Americas. Koyalty in those days 
made out its parchment deeds for a province, 
without taking the trouble to search the record 
office, to see if there were any prior liens upon the 
territory. The good old rule obtained thus — 

" That they may take who have the power, 
And they may keep who can." 

* This William Alexander, Earl of Sterling, was the ancestor of 
General Lord Sterling, one of the most distinguished officers in the 
American Revolution. 



24:0 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

or, to quote the words of another writer — 

"Por the time once was here, to all be it known, 
That all a man sailed by or saw was his own." 

It is due to Sir "William Alexander to say that he 
gave the province the proud name which at present 
it enjoys, of l^ova Scotia, or New Scotland, a title 
much more appropriate than that of " Acadia," ^ 
which to us means nothing. 

At this time the French Colony was slowly recov- 
ering from the effects of the Argall expedition, that 
eight years before had laid waste its fair possessions. 
Among a number of emigrants from the Loire and 
the Seine, two gentlemen of birth and education, 
La Tour by name, father and son, set out to seek 
their fortunes in the 'New "World. It must be 
remembered that in the original patent of Acadia, 
given by Henry TV. to De Monts, freedom of 
religious opinion was one of the conditions of the 
grant, and therefore the fact, that both the La 
Tours were Huguenots, did not prevent them hold- 
ing commissions under the French crown, the father* 
having in charge a small fleet of transports then 
ready to sail from the harbor of Brest ; the son, 

* The name " Acadia," is, no doubt, a primitive word, from the 
Abenaqui tongue — we find it repeated in Tracadie^ Shuhenacadie^ 
and elsewhere in the province. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 241 

being the commander of a fort and garrison at 
Cape Sable, upon tlie western end of Acadia. 

Affairs being in this condition, it chanced that the 
English and French ships set sail for the same port, 
at about the same time ; and it so happened that Sir 
William Alexander's fleet running afoul of the elder 
La' Tour's in a fog, not only captured that gallant 
chieftain but also his transports, munitions of war, 
stores, artillery, etc. etc., and sailed back with the 
prizes to England. I beg you to observe, my dear 
reader, that occurrences of this kind were common 
enough at this period even in times of peace, and not 
considered piracy either, the ocean was looked upon 
as a mighty chessboard, and the game was won by 
those who could command the greatest number of 
pieces. 

Claude de la Tour, not as a prisoner of war, but 
as an enforced guest of Sir William, was carried to 
London ; and there robbed of his goods, but treated 
like a gentleman ; introduced at Court, although 
deprived of his purse and liberty, and in a word, 
found himself surrounded with the most hostile and 
hospitable conditions possible in life. It is not sur- 
prising then that with true French philosophy he 
should have made the best of it ; gained the good 
will of the queen, played off a little hadinage with 
the ladies of the court, and forgetting the late Lady 

11 



242 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

de la Tour, asleep in tlie old graveyard in the city 
of Kochelle, essayed to wear his widower weeds 
with that nnion of grace and sentiment for which 
his countrymen are so celebrated. The consequence 
was, one of her majesty's maids of honor fell in 
love with him ; the queen encouraged the match ; 
the king had just instituted the new order of 
Knights Baronet, of ISTova Scotia ; La Tour, now 
in the way of good fortune, was the first to be hon- 
ored with the novel title, and at the same time 
placed the matrimonial ring upon the finger of the 
love-sick maid of honor. Indeed Charles Etienne de 
la Tour, commandant of the little fort at Cape 
Sable, had scarcely lost a father, before he had 
gained a step-mother. 

That the French widower should have been so 
captivated by these marks of royal favor as to 
lose his discretion, in the fullness of his gratitude ; . 
and, that after receiving a grant of land from his 
patron, as a further incentive, he should volunteer 
to assist in bringing Acadia under the British 
Crown, and as a primary step, undertake to reduce 
the Fort at Cape Sable ; I say, that when I state 
this, nobody will be surprised, except a chosen few, 
who cherish some old-fashioned notions, in these 
days more romantic than real. '' Two ships of war 
being placed under his command," he set sail, with 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 243 

his guns and a Step-mother, to attack the Fort at 
Cape Sable. The latter was but poorly garrisoned ; 
but then it contained ^ Danghter-in-law ! Under 
such circumstances, it was plain to be seen that the 
contest would be continued to the last ounce of 
powder. 

Opening the trenches before the French fort, and 
parading his Scotch troops in the eyes of his son, 
the elder La Tour attempted to capture the garri- 
son by argument. In vain he " boasted of the 
reception he had met with in England, of his inter- 
est at court, and the honor of knighthood which 
had been conferred upon him." In vain he repre- 
sented " the advantages that would result from 
submission," the benefits of British patronage ; and 
paraded before the eyes of the young commander 
the parchment grant, the seal, the royal autograph, 
and the glittering title of Knight Baronet, which 
had inspired his perfidy. His son, shocked and 
indignant, declined the proffered honors and emolu- 
ments that were only to be gained by an act of 
treason ; and intimated his intention " to defend the 
Fort with his life, sooner than deliver it up to the 
enemies of his country." The father used the most 
earnest entreaties, the most touching and parental 
arguments. Charles Etienne was proof against 
these. The Baronet alluded to the large force 



244 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

under his command, and deplored the necessity of 
making an assault, in case his propositions were 
rejected. Charles Etienne only doubled his senti- 
nels, and stood more firmly intrenched upon his 
honor. Then the elder La Tour ordered an assault. 
For two days the storm continued ; sometimes the 
Mother-in-law led the Scotch soldiers to the breach, 
but the French soldiers, under the Daughter-in-law, 
drove them back with such bitter fury, that of the 
assailants it was hard to say which numbered most, 
the living or the dead. At last. La Tour the elder 
abandoned the siege ; and "' ashamed to appear in 
England, afraid to appear in France," accepted the 
humiliating alternative of requesting an asylum 
from his son. Permission to reside in the neighbor- 
hood was granted by Charles Etienne. The Scotch 
troops were reembarked for England ; and the 
younger and the elder Mrs. de la Tour smiled at 
each other grimly from the plain and from the 
parapet. Further than this there was no inter- 
course between the families. Whenever Marie de 
la Tour sent the baby to grandmother, it went with 
a troop of cavalry and a flag of truce ; and when- 
ever Lady de la Tour left her card at the gate, the 
drums beat, and the guard turned out with fixed 
bayonets. 

Such discipline had prepared Marie de la Tour 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 245 

for the lieroic part wliicli afterwards raised her to 
the historical position she occupies in the chronicles 
of Acadia. I have had occasion to speak of free- 
dom of opinion existing in this Province— bnt for 
the invasion of English and Scotch filibusters, this 
absolute liberty of faith would have produced the 
happiest fruits in the new colonies. But unfortun- 
ately in a weak and newly-settled country, union in 
all things is an indispensable condition of existence. 
This very liberty of opinion, in a great measure 
disintegrated the early French settlements, and 
separated a people which otherwise might have 
encountered successfully its rapacious enemies. 

At this time the French Governor of Acadia, 
Razillia, died. Charles Etienne la Tour as a subor- 
dinate officer, had full command of the eastern part 
of the province, as the Chevalier d'Aulney de 
Charnise, had of the western portion, extending as 
far as the Penobscot. As for the Sterling patent, 
Sir William, finding it of little value, had sold it to 
the elder La Tour, but the defeated adventurer of 
Cape Sable by the treaty of St. Germains in 1632, 
was stripped of his new possessions by King 
Charles I., who conveyed the whole of the terri- 
tory again to Louis XIII. of France. Thus it will 
be seen, that two claimants only were in possession 
of Acadia; namely, the younger La Tour and 



246 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

D'Aulnej. The elder La Tour now retires from the 
scene, goes to England with his wife, and is heard 
of no more. 

Between the rival commanders in Acadia, there 
were certain points of resemblance — both were 
youthful, both were brave, enterprising and ambi- 
tious, both the happj husbands of proud and beauti- 
ful wives. Otherwise La Tour was a Huguenot and 
D'Aulney a Catholic — thus it will be seen that the 
latter had the most favor at the French court, 
while the former could more securely count upon 
the friendship of the English of Massachusetts 
Bay — ^no inconsiderable allies as aifairs then stood. 
LTnder such circumstances, it is not to be wondered 
at that there was a constant feud between the two 
young officers, and their young wives. The chroni- 
cles of the Pilgrims, the records of Bradford, 
"Winthrop, Mather, and Hutchiuson, are full of the 
exploits of these pugnacious heroes. At one time 
La Tour appears in person at Boston, to beat up 
recruits, as more than two hundred years after, 
another power attempted to raise a foreign legion, 
and, although the pilgrim fathers do not officially 
sanction the proceeding, yet they connive at it, 
and quote Scripture to warrant them. Close 
upon this follows a protest of D'Aulney, and with 
it the exhibition of a warrant from the French 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 247 

king for the arrest of La Tour. Upon this there is 
a meeting of the council and a treaty, offensive 
and defensive, made with D'Aulney. 

Meanwhile, Marie de la Tour arrived at Boston 
from England, where she had been on a visit to her 
mother-in-law. The captain of the vessel upon 
which she had reembarked for the new world, hav- 
ing carried her to this city instead of to the river 
St. John, according to the letter of the charter, was 
promptly served with a summons by that lady to 
appear before the magistrates to show cause why 
he did it ; and the consequence was, madame recov- 
ered damages to the amount of two thousand 
pounds in the Marine Court of the Modern Athens. 
With this sum in her pocket, she chartered a vessel 
for the river St. John, and arrived at a small fort 
belonging to her husband, on its banks, just in time 
to defend it against D'Aulney, who had rallied his 
forces for an attack upon it, during the absence of 
Charles Etienne. 

Marie de la Tour at this time was one of the 
most beautiful women in the new world. She was 
not less than twenty, nor more than thirty years of 
age ; her features had a charm beyond the limits of 
the regular ; her eyes were expressive ; her mouth 
intellectual ; her complexion brown and clear, 
could pale or flush with emotions either tender or 



MS ACADIA, OEA MONTE 

indignant. Before sucli a commandress D'Aulney 
de Cbarnise set down his forces in the year 1644. 

The garrison was small — the brave Charles Etienne 
absent in a distant part of the province. But the 
unconquerable spirit of the woman prevailed over 
these disadvantages. At the first attack by D'Aul- 
ney, the guns of the fort were directed with such 
consummate skill that every shot told. The 
besieger, with twenty killed and thirteen wounded^ 
was only too happy to warp his frigate out of the 
reach of this lovely lady's artillery, and retire to 
Penobscot to refit for further operations. Again 
D'Aulney sailed up the St. John, with the inten- 
tion of taking the place by assault. By land as by 
water, his forces were repulsed with great slaughter. 
A host of Catholic soldiers fell before a handful of 
Protestant guns, which was not surprising, as the 
cannon w^ere well pointed, and loaded with grape 
and canister. For tliree days the Prench ofiiicer 
carried on the attack, and then again retreated. On 
the fourth day a Swiss hireling deserted to the 
enemy and betrayed the weakness of the garrison. 
D'Aulney, now confident of success, determined to 
take the fort by storm ; but as he mounted the wallj 
the lovely La Tour, at the head of her little garri- 
son, met the besiegers with such determined brav 
ery, that again they were repulsed. That evening 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 249 

D'Aulney hung the traitorous Swiss, and proposed 
honorable terms, if the brave commandress would 
surrender. To these terms Marie assented, in the 
vain hope of saving the lives of the brave men who 
had survived ; the remnants of her little garrison. 
But the perfidious D'Aulney, who, from the vigor- 
ous defence of the fort, had supposed the number 
of soldiers to have been greater, instead of feeling 
that admiration which brave men always expe- 
rience when acts of valor are presented by an ene- 
my, lost himself in an abyss of chagrin, to find 
he had been thrice defeated by a garrison so 
contemptible in numbers, and led by a female. 
To his eternal infLimy let it be recorded, that 
jjretending to have been deceived by the terms 
of capitulation, D'Aulney hanged the brave sur- 
vivors of the garrison, and even had the base- 
ness and cruelty to parade Madame de la Tour 
herself on the same scaffold, with the ignomi- 
nious cord around her neck, as a reprieved crimi- 
nal. 

To quote the words of the chronicler : " The vio- 
lent and unusual exertions which Madame la Tom- 
had made, the dreadful fate of her household and 
followers, and the total wreck of his fortune, had 
such an effect that she died soon after this event." 

So perished the beautiful, the brave, the faithful, 

11* 



250 ACADIA, OKA MONTH 

the unfortnnate ! Shall I add that her besieger, 
D'AuInej, died soon after, leaving a bereaved but 
blooming widow ? Tliat Charles Etienne la Tour, to 
prevent further difficulties in the province, laid siege 
to that sad and sympathizing lady, not with flag and 
drum, shot and shell, but with the more effectual 
artillery of love ? That Madame D'Aulney finally 
surrendered, and that Charles Etienne was wont to 
say to her, after the w^edding : '' Beloved, your hus- 
band and my wife have had their pitched battle, but 
let us live in peace for the rest of our days, my 
dear." 

Quaint, old, mouldy Halifax seems more attrac- 
tive after re- writing this portion of its early history. 
The defence of that little fort, with its slender gar- 
rison, by Madame la Tour, against the perfidious 
Charnise, brings to mind other instances of female 
heroism, peculiar to the French people. It recalls 
the achievements of Joan of Arc, and Charlotte 
Corday. Not less, than these, in the scale of intre- 
pid valor, are tliose of Marie de la Tour. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 251 



CHAPTEE XY. 

Bedford Basin— Legend of the two French Admirals— An Invita- 
tion to the Queen — Visit to the Prince's Lodge— A Touch of Old 
England— The Ruins. 

The harbor of Chebucto, after stretching inland far 
enough to make a commodious and beautiful site 
for the great city of Halifax, true to the fine artistic 
taste peculiar to all bodies of water in the pro- 
vince, penetrates still further in the landscape, and 
broadens out into a superb land-locked lake, called 
Bedford Basin. The entrance to this basin is very 
narrow, and it has no other outlet. Oral tradition 
maintains that about a century ago a certain French 
fleet, lying in the harbor, surprised by the approach 
of a superior body of English men-of-war in the 
offing, weighed anchor and sailed up through this 
narrow estuary into the basin itself, deceived by 
seeing so much water there, and believing it to be 
but a twin harbor through which they could escape 
again to the open sea. And further, that the French 
Admiral finding himself caught in this net with no 
chance of escape, drew his sword, and placing the 



252 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

hilt upon tlie deck of his vessel, fell upon the point 
of the weapon, and so died. 

This tradition is based partly upon fact; its 
epoch is one of the most interesting in the history 
of this province, and probably the turning point in 
the affairs of the whole northern continent. The 
suicide was an officer high in rank, the Duke 
d'Anville, who in 1746, after the first capture 
of Louisburgh, sailed from Brest with the most 
formidable fleet that had ever crossed the Atlan- 
tic, to re-take this famous fortress ; then to re-take 
Annapolis, next to destroy Boston, and finally 
to msit the West Indies. But his squadron being 
dispersed by tempestuous weather, he arrived in 
Chebucto harbor with but a few ships, and not 
finding any of the rest of his fleet there, was so 
affected by this and other disasters on the voyage, 
that he destroyed himself. So says the London 
Chronicle of August 24:th, 1768, from which I 
take this account. The French say he died of 
apoplexy, the English by poison. At all events, 
he was buried in a little island in the harbor, after 
a defeat by the elements of as great an armament 
as that of the Spanish Armada. Some idea of 
the disasters of this voyage may be formed from 
one fact, that from the time of the sailing of the 
expedition from Brest until its arrival at Chebucto, 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 253 

no less tlian 1,270 men died on the way from tlie 
plague. Many of the ships arriving after this sad 
occurrence, Yice- Admiral Destournelle endeavored 
to fulfill the object of the mission, and even with 
his crijDpled forces essay to restore the glory of 
France in the western hemisphere. But he being 
overruled by a council of war, plucked out his 
sword, and followed his commander, the Duke 
d'Anville. What might have come of it, had either 
admiral again planted the jieuT de lis upon the 
bastions of Louisburgh ? 

But to return to the to-day of to-day. Bedford 
Basin is now rapidly growing in importance. The 
great J^ova Scotia railway skirts the margin of 
its storied waters, and already suburban villas for 
Haligonian Sparrowgrasses, are being erected upon 
its banks. 

I was much amused one morning, npon opening 
one of the Halifax papers, to find in its columns a 
most warm and hearty invitation from the editor to 
her majesty, Queen Victoria, soliciting her to visit 
the province, which, according to the editorial 
phraseology, would be, no doubt, as interesting as it 
was endeared to her, as the former residence of 
her gracious father, the Duke of Kent. 

In the year 1798, just twenty years before her 
present majesty was born, the young Prince 



254 A A D 1 A , OK A M N T 11 

Edwjinl \V!i8 jippoinhul (\>inin:nuliM'-in-Oliiot' oi^ llio 
1oroo8 in HriliHli Norlli AiiiorifM. Loyiiliy, thon as 
now, wjiH r{unj>!inl in Novn Scolia, juul npon I ho 
.MiM-ivnl (>r Ills Ivovjil Ilii;'lino8tA, ninoni;' olhor injirUtA 
ol' tM>iii|>limonl, .'in :nlj;u'iM»l. isl.'uul, that", at ])ro8on(; 
r(»joici>s in ji i;-(>\ (M'i\»)r .'uul |):ii'li;nnonl. of lis o\v\\^ 
AVas ro-rhris(onoil with llio nnnio il now boai's, 
mnnolv - Trinro iMlward's Island. Ihil 1 :nn nlVnid 
l*riniH^ I'Mw.'H'd was a 8a,(l roprobato in (Iukso days — 
ut loa.8t, snch is llu> rocord o\' Iradilion. 

'^riu* Mrliolo in i\\o nows|>a}HM- nMnimlvHl nu^ i.hat 
Honiowlioro npon r>odt'o!>l IvMsiu woro llio r<Mn:iin8 
of (lu^ '' Prinoo's liOdij;o ;" so ono nrioi'n(>on, arooin- 
j>;nii(>d Itv ;i d»\Mr old iViond, 1 j>;iid lliis royal l>«>wor 
hv luMulouuuM'V slro.'un, ;i visil, KaMlini;' thron^'h 
llio nop.MN od sIihhMs ol' ll.'dilnx in a ono lior^o 
vi^hiolo, onllod, [ov ob\ ivuis ronsous, a "jnnijUM'/* 
^vo wtM'i^ soon on llu* IdiA^ ''*»ad lowardt^ iho 
bnsin. WmUm- oi' I ho inlonsosl Idno hill-i^lo[U>8, 
now onlti\ nlod, .-nid anon patoluHl with ovori>;iHHMm 
Ih.'il K>ok :is hhu'k as stpiaros upon a olu\^s hoanl, 
hiMwoon iho opon, hrokon ^"ronnds a lino road — a 
HunmuM* skv an ahnosphoro spioy with whitVs oC 
rosinons odors, and no lo*;', — tlu\so aro Iho Toalnivs 
ol* ouv ridc\ \ondor is a rovi buildini>\ rollootod in 
iho waloi- liko tho pris(>n o( (^hillon, wlioiv sonn^ »»! 
onr oili.,ons woro iinprisonod dnrini;- tho war i>l 



W 1 T II T II K U li IJ K N 0HK8. 



1356 



IvSlU— Hliip i-aplivt^H iloiil»tU»SHl Aiul Ium'o in llio 
cnstom.'ii'v lilllo Mmi^'HhIi imi, wIum-c^ \vt^ hIo|» mir 
hUhmI li» Km liiin iM>(>l, wliilo llio hIouI ImihUoihI, girl; 
with ji rK^'iii wliili^ .M|iroii, l>rini';H out lo Ium llilrnl^y 
li'.'iN i>IKm's a. hraci^ (W' roainiiii;*, (•n\Mmv ^'InsHt^s of 
*' rii;iit irMno-lisli h'alo/' 'PIhmi riMiuMinliiiiv llu> 
jiimjUM', we skill llu> (mI«;-(^ of llu> hnsiii Mi';Min, tiiilil 
ti Hlnloly (lonu* risi'H iij> IxMoih^ umou llu* rojul, wliicli, 
JlH wi^ np|>i"(>ju'li, wo HtH^ in HiipjMirUMl l>v cohinmM, 
lliul l).•|^;^Ml lipotl JI ntMHl(^ iM'oinoiilnrv OVtM'llMUging 
tlh' W.'lliM*. 'V\\\^ i.M (llO '* Music ll(»U8(*/' wluMT tllO 

l*rin('o's hand w<a'o woul lo plav in days '' laiijj; 
Hyiu\" llorc^ \vi» h1o|), and ItMiviiii;- oui- jiimiKM" 
ill cliai'i;"!* <>l* a larmor, si roll (»vtM* llio i^i'imiikIh. 

'Thai. jxMiiIiar arraiii'oiiuMil ol" lol'lv Iroos, sw(m>|»- 
iuu; lawns, ami «;'raA'i4'iil inaiia^oiiioiil ol' walor, 
wliioli I'orius llu^ |>r(»\ ailiiii;' I'oahiri* ol' MiiL'JisIi land 
Hcajx^ ^'ardiMMU!;", was al. onctMinparonl. Alllionoli 
lliort* W'oiH^ no Irini walks, <.;'ro(Mi li(>dg(»s, »»r l>ods oT 
l1ow(M*s; alllioiiidi (li«^ wliolo )dar«* was niinod and 
noii'KM'lod, vt'l lln^ niaiiic*. hnu'li of arl was no! Iosh 
visil)K» lo iIh* piaolisiMl i'\o. 'V\\o arl llial. con 
coalod arl, siHMnod lo lond a cliarm !(► Ilu^ swoi^l, 
Hvndusion, willioul. intrndiiii'; upon or <lishirl»iiiu!; llu^ 
intontions of nalnn^ 

rroctHMJiiiii,' n|> lln* «;'(MiIK^ hIo|>i» (lial led iVoni llu> 
gaio, a nnnihor ol' (Mdinnhinos and I'osi^ luislioH 



256 ACADIA, OE A MONTH 

scattered in wild profusion, indicated where once 
had been the Prince's garden. These, although 
now in bloom and teeming with flowers, have a 
vagrant, neglected air, like beauties that had run 
astray, never to be reclaimed. A little further we 
come upon the ruins of a spacious mansion, and 
beyond these the remains of the library, with its 
tumbled-down bricks and timbers, choking up the 
stream that wound through the vice-regal domains : 
and here the bowling-green, yet fresh with verdure ; 
here the fishing pavilion, leaning over an artificial 
lake, with an artificial island in the midst ; and here 
are willows, and deciduous trees, planted by the 
Prince; and other rose-bushes and columbines scat- 
tered in wild profusion. I could not but admire the 
elegance and grace, which, even now, were so appa- 
rent, amid the ruins of the lodge, nor could I help 
recalling those earlier days, when the red-coats 
clustered around the gates, and the grounds were 
sparkling with lamps at night ; when the band 
from the music-house woke the echoes with the 
clash of martial instruments, and the young Prince, 
with his gay gallants, and his powdered, patched, 
and painted Jezebels, held his brilliant court, with 
banner, music, and flotilla ; with the array of 
soldiery, and the pageantry of ships-of-war, on 
Bedford Basin. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 257 

I stood by tlie ruins of a little stone bridge, 
wliich bad once spanned the sparkling brook, and 
led to tlie Prince's library .; I saw, far and near, the 
flaiuiting flowers of the now abandoned garden, and 
the distant columns of the silent music house, and 
I felt sad amid the desolation, although I knew not 
why. For wherefore should any one feel sad to see 
the temples of dissipation laid in the dust? For 
my own part, I am a poor casuist, but nevertheless, 
I do not think my conscience will suffer from this 
feeling. There is a touch of humanity in it, and 
always some germ of sympathy will bourgeon and 
bloom around the once populous abodes of men, 
whether they were tenanted by the pure or by the 
impure. 



258 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHAPTEE XYI. 

The Last Night — Farewell Hotel Waverley — Friends Old and New — 
What followed the Marriage of La Tour le ^Borgne — Invasion 
of Col. Church. 

Faint nebulous spots in the air, little red disks in a 
halo of fog, acquaint us that there are gaslights 
this night in the streets of Halifax. Something 
new, I take it, this illumination ? Carbonated 
hydrogen is a novelty as yet in Chebucto. But in 
this soft and pleasant atmosphere, I cannot but feel 
some regret at leaving my old quarters in the 
Hotel Waverley. If I feel how much there is to 
welcome me elsewhere, yet I do not forsake this 
queer old city — these strange, dingy, weather-beaten 
streets, without reluctance ; and chiefly I feel that 
now I must separate from some old friends, and from 
some new ones too, whom I can ill spare. And 
if any of these should ever read this little book, I 
trust they will not think the less of me because of 
it. If the salient features of the province have 
sometimes appeared to me, a stranger, a trifle 



.WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 259 

distorted, it may be that my own stand-point is 
defective. And so farewell ! To-morrow I shall 
draw nearer homeward, by Windsor and the shores 
of the Gasperan, by Grand-Pre and the Basin of 
Minas. Candles, Henry ! and books ! 

The marriage of La Tour to the widow of his 
deceased rival, for a time enabled that brave young 
adventurer to remain in quiet possession of the 
territory. But to the Catholic Court of France, a 
suspected although not an avowed Protestant, in 
commission, was an object of distrust. 'No matter 
what might have been his former services, indeed, 
his defence of Cape Sable had saved the French 
possessions from the encroachments of the Sterling 
patent, yet he was heretic to the true faith, 
and therefore defenceless in an important point 
against the attacks of an enemy. Such a one was 
La Tour le Borgne, who professed to be a creditor 
of D'Aulney, and pressing his suit with all the 
ardor of bigotry and rapacity, easily succeeded in 
" obtaining a decree by which he was authorized to 
enter upon the possessions of his deceased debtor P^ 
But the adherents of Charles Etienne did not readily 
yield to the new adventurer. They had tasted 
the sweets of religious liberty, and Avere not dis- 
posed to come within the arbitrary yoke without a 
struggle. Disregarding the " decree," they stood 



260 ACADIA, OR A MONTH. 

out manfully against the forces of Le Borgne. 
Again were Catholic French and Protestant French 
cannon pointed against each other in unhappy 
Acadia. But fort after fort fell beneath the new 
claimant's superior artillery, until La Tour le 
Borgne himself was met by a counter-force of 
bigotry, before which his own was as chaff to the 
fanning-mill. The man of England, Oliver Crom- 
well, had his little claim, too, in Acadia. Against 
his forces both the French commanders made but 
ineffectual resistance. Acadia for the third time 
fell into the hands of the English. 

T^ow in the history of the world there is nothing 
more patent than this : that persecution in the 
name of religion, is only a ring of calamities, which 
ends sooner or later where it began. And this 
portion of its history can be cited as an example. 
Charles Etienne de la Tour, alienated by the unjust 
treatment of his countrymen, decided to accept the 
protection of his national enemy. As the heir of 
Sir Claude de la Tour, he laid claim to the Sterling 
grants (which it will be remembered had been ceded 
to his father by Sir William Alexander after the 
unsuccessful attack upon Cape Sable,) and in con- 
junction with two English Puritans obtained a new 
patent for Acadia from the Protector, under the 
great seal, with the title of Sir Charles La Tour. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 261 

Then Sir Thomas Temple (one of the partners in the 
Cromwell patent) purchased the interest of Charles 
Etienne in Acadia. Then came the restoration, and 
again Acadia was restored to France by Charles II. 
in 1668. But Sir Thomas having embarked all his 
fortune in the enterprise, was not disposed to submit 
to the arbitrary disposal of his property by this 
treaty ; and therefore endeavored to evade its 
articles by making a distinction between such parts 
of the province as were supposed to constitute 
Acadia proper, and the other portions of the terri- 
tory comprehended under the title of Nova Scotia. 
"This distinction being deemed frivolous," Sir 
Thomas w\as ordered to obey the letter of the treaty, 
and accordingly the whole of Nova Scotia was 
delivered up to the Chevalier de Grande Fontaine. 
During twenty years succeeding this event, Acadia 
enjoyed comparative repose, subject only to occa- 
sional visits of filibusters. At the expiration of 
that time, a more serious invasion was meditated. 
Under the command of Sir William Phipps, a 
native of ISTew England, three ships, with transports 
and soldiers, appeared before Port Eoyal, and 
demanded an unconditional surrender. Although 
the fort was poorly garrisoned, this was refused by 
Manivel, the French governor, but finally terms of 
capitulation were agreed upon : these were, that 



U" 



262 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

the French troops should be allowed to retain their 
arms and baggage, and be carried to Quebec ; that 
the inhabitants should be maintained in the peacea- 
ble possession of their property, and in the exercise 
of their religion ; and that the honor of the 
women should be observed. Sir William agreed 
to the conditions, but declined signing the articles, 
pompously intimating that the "word of a general 
was a better security than any document whatever." 
The French governor, deceived by this specious 
parade of language, took the ISTew England filibus- 
ter at his word, and formally surrendered the keys 
of the fortress, according to the verbal contract. 
Again was poor Acadia the victim of her perfidious 
enemy. Sir William, disregarding the terms of the 
capitulation, and the " word of a general," violated 
the articles he had pledged his honor to maintain, 
disarmed and imprisoned the soldiers, sacked the 
churches, and gave the place up to all the ruthless 
cruelties and violences of a general pillage. ]S^ot 
only this, the too credulous Governor, Manivel, was 
himself imprisoned, plundered of money and clothes, 
and carried off on board the conquerer's frigate, 
with many of his unfortunate companions, to view 
the further spoliations of his countrymen. Many a 
peaceful Acadian village expired in flames during 
that coasting expedition, and to add to the miseries 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 263 

of the defenceless Acadians, two piratical vessels 
followed in the wake of the pious Sir William, and 
set fire to the houses, slaughtered the cattle, hanged 
the inhabitants, and deliberately burned up one 
whole family, whom they had shut in a dwelling- 
house for that purpose. 

Soon after this. Sir William was rewarded with 

the governorship of New England, as Argall had 
been with that of Yirginia, nearly a century before. 

Now let it be remembered that in these exj)edi- 
tions, very little, if any, attempt was made by the 
invaders to colonize or reside on the lands they were 
so ready to lay waste and destroy. The mind of 
the species " Puritan," by rigid discipline hardened 
against all frivolous amusements, and insensible to 
the charms of the drama, and the splendors of the 
mimic spectacle, with its hollow shows of buckram, 
tinsel, and pasteboard, seems to have been peculiarly 
fitted to enjoy these more substantial enterprises, 
which, owing to the defenceless condition of the 
French province, must have appeared to the rigid 
Dudleys and Endicotts merely as a series of light 
and elegant pastimes. 

Scarcely had Sir William Phipps returned to 
Boston, when the Chevalier Yillabon came from 
France with troops and implements of war. On 
his arrival, he found the British flag flying at Port 



^6^ ACADIA, OK A MONTH 

Royal, unsupported by an English garrison. It was 
immediately lowered from the flag-staff, the white 
flag of Louis substituted, and once more Acadia 
was under the dominion of her parental govern- 
ment. 

Yillabon, in a series of petty skirmishes, soon 
recovered the rest of the territory, which was only 
occupied at a few points by feeble 'New England 
garrisons, and, in conjunction with a force of 
Abenaqui Indians, laid siege to the fort at Pema- 
quid, on the Penobscot, and captured it. In this 
affair, as we have seen, the famous Baron Castine 
was engaged. 

The capture of the fort at Pemaquid, led to a 
train of reprisals, conspicuous in which was an 
actor in the theatre of events who heretofore had 
not appeared upon the Acadian stage. This was 
Col. Church, a celebrated bushwhacker and Indian- 
fighter, of memorable account in the King Philip 
war. 

in order to estimate truly the condition of the 
respective parties, we must remember the severe 
iron and gunpowder nature of the Puritan of New 
England, his prejudices, his dyspepsia ; his high- 
peaked hat and ruff; his troublesome conscience 
and catarrh ; his natural antipathies to Papists and 
Indians, from having been scalped by one, and 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 265 

roasted bj botli ; his Englisli insolence ; and hk 
religions bias, at once tyrannic and territorial. 

Tlien, on tlie other, we must call to view the 
simple Acadian peasant. Papist or Protestant, just 
as it happened ; ignorant of the great events of the 
world ; a mere offshoot of rural ]S^ormandj ; without 
a thought of other possessions than those' he might 
reclaim from the sea bj his dykes ; credulous, pure- 
minded, patient of injuries ; that like the swallow 
in the spring, thrice built the nest, and when again 
it was destroyed, 



" found the ruin wrought, 

But, not cast down, forth from the place it flew, 
And with its mate fresh earth and grasses brought, 

And built the nest anew." 

Against such people, the expedition of Col. Church, 
fresh from the slaughter of Pequod wars, bent 
its merciless energies. Eegardless of the facts that 
the people were non-resistants ; that the expeditions 
of the French had been only feeble retaliations of 
great injuries; and always by levies from the 
mother country, and not from the colonists; that 
Yillabon, at the capture of Pemaquid, had gene- 
rously saved the lives of the soldiers in the garrison 
from the fury of the Mic-Macs, who had just grounds 
of retribution for the massacres which had marked 
12 



266 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

the former inroads of these ruthless nivaders; 
the wrath of the Pilgrim Fathers fell upon the 
mifortunate Acadians as though they had been a 
nation of Sepoys.* 

One of the severest cruelties practised upon these 
inoflensive people, was that of requirmg them to 
betray their friends, the Indians, under the heaviest 
penalties. In Acadia, the red and the white man 
were as brotliers ; no treachery, no broken faith, no 



* One incident will suffice to show the character of these forays. 
A small island on Passamaquoddy Bay was invaded by the forces 
under Ool. Church, at night. The inhabitants made no resistance. 
All gave up ; " but," says Church in his dispatch to the gov- 
ernor, "looking over a little run, I saw something look black just 
by me : stopped and heard a talking ; stepped over and saw a little 
hut, or wigwam, with a crowd of people round about it, which was 
contrary to my former directions. I asked them what they were 
doing ? They replied, ' there were some of the enemy in a house, 
and would not come out.' I asked Avhat house ? They said, ' a 
bark house.' I hastily bid them pull it down, and knocJc them on 
the head, never asking whether the}/ were French or Indians, they 
being all enemies alike to wie." Such was the merciless character 
of these early expeditions to peaceful Acadia. 



" Herod of Galilee's babe-butchering deed 
Lives not on history's blushing page alone ; 

Our skies, it seems, have seen like victims bleed, 
And our own Ramahs echoed groan for groan ; 

The fiends of France, Trhose cruelties decreed 

Those dexterous drownings in the Loire and Rhone, 

Were, at their worst, but copyists, second-hand, 

Of our shrined, sainted sires, the Plymouth Pilgrim band," 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 267 

over-reacliing policy had severed the slightest fibre 
of good fellowship on either side. But the Abena- 
qui race was a warlike people. At the first invasion, 
under Argall, the red man had seen with surprise a 
mere handful of white men disputing for a territory 
to which neither could ofi'er a claim ; so vast as to 
make either occupation or control by the adven- 
turers ridiculous ; and therefore, with good-natured 
zeal, he had hastened to put an end to the quarrel, 
as though the white people had only been fractious 
but not irreconcilable kinsmen. But as the power 
of New England advanced more and more in Aca- 
dia, the first generous desire of the red man had 
merged into suspicion, and finally hatred of the 
peaked hat and ruff of Plymouth. In all his deal- 
ings with the Acadians, the Indian had found only 
unimpeachable faith and honor; but with the 
colonist of Massachusetts, there had been nothing 
but over-reaching and treachery : intercourse witli 
the first had not led to a scratch, or a single drop of 
blood ; while on the other hand a bounty of " one 
hundred pounds was offered for each male of their 
tribe if over twelve years of age, if scalped ; one 
hundred and five pounds if taken prisoner ; fifty 
pounds for each woman and child scal^ped^ and fifty 
pounds when brought in alive." 

Tlie Abenaqui tribes therefore, first, to avenge 



268 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

the injuries of their unresisting friends, the Aca- 
dians, and after to avenge their own, waged war 
upon the invaders with all the severities of an 
aggrieved and barbarous people. And, as I have 
said before, the severest cruelty inflicted upon the 
Acadian colonist, was to oblige him to betray his 
best friend and protector, the painted heathen, with 
whom he struck hands and plighted faith. To the 
honor of these colonists, be it said, that although 
they saw their long years' labor of dykes broken 
down, the sea sweeping over their farms, the fire 
rolling about their homesteads, their cattle and 
sheep destroyed, their effects plundered, and wan- 
ton and nameless outrages committed by the 
English and Yankee soldiery, yet in no instance 
did they purchase indemnity from these, by betray- 
ing a single Indian. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 269 



CHAPTEE XYH. 

A few more Threads of History — Acadia again lost — The Oath of 
Allegiance — Settlement of Halifax — The brave Three Hundred — 
Massacre at Norridgewoack — Le Pere Ralle. 

During the invasion of Col. Church, the inhabit- 
ants of Grand-Pre were exposed to such treatment 
as may be conceived of. The smoke from the 
borders of the five rivers, overlooked by Blomidon, 
rose in the stilly air, and again the sea rolled past 
the broken dykes, which for nearly a century had 
kept out its desolating waters between the Cape and 
the Gasperau, Driven to despair, a few of the 
younger Acadians took up arms to defend their 
hearthstones, but the great body of the people 
submitted without resistance. A brief stand was 
made at Port Royal, but this last outpost finally 
capitulated. By the terms of the articles agreed 
upon, the inhabitants were to have the privilege of 
remaining upon their estates for two years, upon 
taking an oath of allegiance to remain faithful to 
her majesty. Queen Anne, during that period. 
Upon that consideration, those who lived within 



2T0 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

cannon-shot of tlie fort, were to be protected in 
tlieir rights and properties. This was but a piece 
oi finesse on the part of the invaders, an entering 
wedge, as it were, of a novel kind of tja-anny, 
namely, that inasmuch as those within cannon-shot 
had taken the oath of allegiance, those without the 
reach of artillery, at Port Eoyal, also, were bound 
to do the same. And a strong detachment of l^ew 
England troops, under Captain Pigeon, was sent 
upon an expedition to enforce the arbitrary oath. 
But Captain Pigeon, in the pursuit of his duty, fell 
in with an enemy of a less gentle nature than the 
Acadians. A body of Abenaqui came down upon 
him and his men, and smote them hip and thigh, 
even as the three hundred warriors of Israel smote 
the Midianites in the valley of Moreh. Then was 
there temporary relief in the land until the 
year 1713, when by a treaty Acadia was for- 
mally surrendered to England. The weight of the 
oath of allegiance now fell heavily upon the in- 
nocent colonists. We can scarcely appreciate the 
abhorrence of a people, so conscientious as this, to 
take an oath of fidelity to a race that had only 
been known to tliem by its rapacity. But partly 
by persuasion, partly by menace, a majority of the 
Acadians took the oath, which was as follows : 
" Je ^'omets et jure sincerement^ en foi de Chre- 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 271 

tien^ que je serai entierement fidele et obeirai vrai- 
ment sa Majeste le roi George^ que je reconnais 
pour le Souverain seigneur de VAcadie^ ou Nov^ 
velle Ecosse^ ainsi Dieu me soit en aideP 

Under the shadow of the protection derived from 
their acceptance of this oath, the Acadians reposed 
a few years. It did not oblige them to bear arms 
against their countrymen, nor did it compromise 
their religious independence of faith. Again the 
dykes were built to resist the encroachments of the 
sea ; again village after village arose — at the mouth 
of the Gasperau, on the shores of the Canard, be- 
side the Strait of Frontenac, at Le Have, and Eos^ 
signol, at Port Royal and Pisiquid. During all 
these years no attempt had been made by the cap- 
tors of this province, to colonize the places baptized 
with the waters of Puritan progress. Lunenburgh 
was settled with King William's Dutchmen ; the 
walls of Louisburgh were rising in one of the 
harbors of a neighboring island ; but in no instance 
had the filibusters projected a colony on the soil 
which had been wrested from its rightful owners. 
The only result of all their bloody visitations upon 
a non-resisting people, had been to make defence- 
less Acadia a neutral province. From this time 
until the close of the drama, in all the wars be- 
tween the Georges and the Louises, in both hemi- 



272 ACADIA, ORAMONTH 

spheres, the people of Acadia went hj the name 
of " The JSTentral French." 

Meantime the walls of Lonisbnrgh were rising 
on the island of Cape Breton, which, with Canada, 
still remained under the sovereign rule of the 
French. The Acadians were invited to remove 
within the protection of this formidable fortress, 
but thej preferred remaining intrenched behind 
their dykes, firmly believing that the only invader 
they had now to dread was the sea, inasmuch as 
they had accepted the oath of fidelity, in which, 
and in their inoffensive pursuits, they imagined 
themselves secure from farther molestation. Some 
of their Indian neighbors, however, accepted the 
invitation of the Cape Breton French, and removed 
thither. These simple savages, notwithstanding the 
changes in the government, still regarded the Aca- 
dians as friends, and the English as enemies. They 
could not comprehend the nature of a treaty by 
which their own lands were ceded to a hostile 
force ; a treaty in which they were neither con- 
sulted nor considered.* They had their own injuries 
to remember, which in no wise had boon balanced 
in the compact of the strangers. The rulers in 

* In the treaty of Utrecht, no mention was made either of tho 
Indians or of their lands. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 273 

New France (so says the ehronicler) " affected to 
consider the Indians as an independent people." 
At Canseau, at Cape Sable, at Annapolis, and Pas- 
samaqnoddj, English forts, fishing stations, and 
vessels were attacked and destroyed by the savages 
with all the circnmstances that make np the hideons 
features of barbaric reprisal. TJnhapj)y Acadia 
came in for her share of condemnation. Although 
her innocent people had no part in these transac- 
tions, yet her missionaries had converted the Abe- 
naqui to faith in the symbol of the crucifixion, and 
it was currently reported and credited in 'New Eng- 
land, that they had taught the savages to believe 
also the English were the people who had crucified 
our Saviour. To complicate matters again, the 
Chevalier de St. George (of whom there is no 
recollection except that he was anonymous, both as 
a prince, and as a man) sent his son, the fifth re- 
move in stupidity, of the most stupid line of mon- 
archs (not even excepting the Georges) that ever 
wore crowns, to stir up an insurrection among the 
most obtuse race of people that ever wore, or went 
w^ithout, breeches. A war between France and 
England followed the descent of the Pretender. A 
war naturally followed in the Colonies. 

Again the ring of fire and slaughter met and 
ended in a treaty ; the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, 

12* 



274 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

by wliicli Cape Breton was ceded to France, and 
ISTova Scotia, or Acadia, to England. Up to this 
time no attempt at colonizing tlie fertile valleys of 
Acadia, by its captors, bad been attempted. At 
last, under large and favorable grants from the 
Crown, a colony was established by the Hon. 
Edward Cornwallis, at a place now known as Hali- 
fax. 'No sooner was Halifax settled, than sundry 
tribes of red men made predatory visits to the bor- 
ders of the new colony. Reprisals followed repri- 
sals, and it is not easy to say on which side lay the 
largest amount of savage fury. At the same time, 
the Acadians remained true to the spirit and letter 
of the oath they had taken. ".They had relapsed," 
says the chronicler, " into a sort of sullen neu- 
trality." This was considered just cause of offence. 
The oath which had satisfied Governor Phipps, did 
not satisfy George H. A new oath of allegiance 
was tendered, by which the Acadians were required 
to become loyal subjects of the English Crown, to 
bear arms against their countrymen, and the 
Indians to whom the poor colonists were bound by 
so many ties of obligation and affection. Tlie con- 
sciences of these simple people revolted at a requi- 
sition " so repugnant to the feelings of human 
nature." Three hundred of the younger and braver 
Acadians took up arms against their oppressors. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 275 

This overt act was just what was desired by the 
wily Puritans. Acadia, with its twenty thousand 
inhabitants, was placed under the ban of having 
violated the oath of neutrality in the persons of the 
three hundred. In vain the great body of the peo- 
ple protested that this act was contrary to their 
wishes, their peaceful habits, and beyond their con- 
trol. At the fort of Beau S^jour, the brave three 
hundred made a gallant stand, but were defeated. 
Would there had been a Leonidas among them ! 
Would that the whole of their kinsmen had erected 
forts instead of dykes, and dropped the plough- 
handles to press the edge of the sabre against the 
grindstone ! Sad indeed is the fate of tkat people 
who make any terms with such an enemy, except 
such as may be granted at the bayonet's point. 
Sad indeed is the condition of that people who are 
wi-apt in security when Persecution steals in upon 
them, hiding its bloody hands under the garments 
of sanctity. 

Among the many incidents of these cruel wars, 
the fate of a Jesuit priest may stand as a type of 
the rest. Le Pere Ralle had been a missionary for 
forty years among the various tribes of the Abena- 
qui. "His literary attainments were of a high 
order ;" his knowledge of modern languages re- 
spectable ; " his Latin," according to Haliburton, 



276 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

" was pure, classical and elegant ;" and lie was 
master of several of the Abenaqni dialects ; indeed, 
a manuscript dictionary of the Abenaqui languages, 
in his hand- writing, is still preserved in the library 
of the Harvard University. Of one of these 
tribes — the ISTorridgewoacks — Father Kalle was the 
pastor. Its little village was on the banks of the 
Kennebeck; the roof of its tiny chapel rose above 
the pointed wigwams of the savages ; and a huge 
cross, the emblem of peace, lifted itself above all, 
the conspicuous feature of the settlement in the 
distance. By the tribe over which he had exercised 
his gentle rule for so many years, Le Pere Ralle was 
regarded with- superstitious reverence and affection. 
It does not appear that these people had been 
accused of any overt acts ; but, nevertheless, the vil- 
lage was marked out for destruction. Two hundred 
and eight Massachusetts men were dispatched upon 
this errand. The settlement was surprised at night, 
and a terrible scene of slaughter ensued. Halle 
came forth from his chapel to save, if possible, the 
lives of his miserable parishioners. "As soon as 
he was seen," says the chronicler,* "he was saluted 
with a great shout and a shower of bullets, and fell, 
together with seven Indians, who had rushed out of 
their tents to defend him with their bodies ; and 

* Charlevoix. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 277 

when the pursuit ceased, the Indians who had fled, 
returned to weep over their beloved missionary, 
and found him dead at the foot of the cross, his 
body perforated with balls, his head scalped, his 
skull broken with blows of hatchets, his mouth and 
eyes filled with mud, the bones of his legs broken, 
and his limbs dreadfully mangled. After having 
bathed his remains with their tears, they buried him 
on the site of the chapel, that had been hewn down 
with its crucifix, with whatever else remained of 
the emblems of idolatry." Such was the merciless 
character of the invasion of Acadia ; such the 
looming phantom of the greater crime wliich was 
so speedily to spread ruin over her fair valleys, and 
scatter forever her pastoral people. 

The tranquillity of entire subjugation followed 
these events in the province. The I^ew Eiiglander 
built his menacing forts along the rivers, and 
pressed into his service the labors of the neutral 
French. "The requisitions which were made of 
them were not calculated to conciliate afi'ection," 
says the chronicler ; the poor Acadian peasant was 
informed, if he did not supply the garrison fuel, 
his own house would be used for that purj)ose, and 
that neglect to furnish timber for the repairs of a 
fort, would be followed by drum-head courts mar- 
tial, and " military execution." 



278 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

To all these exactions, these unhappy people 
patiently submitted. But in vain. The very exis- 
tence of the subjugated race had become irksome 
to their oppressors. A cruelty yet more intolerable 
to which the history of the world affords no parallel, 
remained to be perpetrated. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 279 



CHAPTEK XYin. 

On the road to Windsor — ^The great Nova Scotia Railway — A Fellow 
Passenger — Cape Sable Shipwrecks — Seals — Ponies — ^Windsor — 
Sam SUck — A lively Example. 

A DEWY, spring-like morning is all I remembered 
of my farewell to Halifax. A verj sweet and 
odorous air as I rode towards tlie railway station in 
the funereal cab ; a morning without fog, a spark- 
ling freshness that twinkled in the leaves and 
crisped the waters. 

So I take leave of thee, quaint old city of Che- 
bucto. The words of a familiar ditty, the memory 
of the unfortunate Miss Bailey, rises upon me as 
the morning bugle sounds — 

" A captain bold in Halifax, who lived in country quarters, 
Seduced a maid, who hung herself next morning in her garters ; 
His wicked conscience smoted him, he lost his spirits daily, 
He took to drinking ratifia, and thought upon Miss Bailey." 

While the psychological features of the case 



280 A C A D I A , K A MONTH 

\voro puzzling his brain and kooping him wido 
awake — 

*'Tho oaudlos bluo, at Xll. o'clock, began to burn quite paley, 
A ghost appeared at his bedside, and said — 

behoUl, Miss Bailey I ! !" 

Even such a sprite, so dead in hx^k, so woe- 
begone, drew Prianvs curtain in the dead of night 
to tell him half his Ti'ov was burned ; but this visit 
WHS for a diti'eient purpose, as we tind bv the words 
which the ii'allant Lothario addressed to his victim : 

*** You'll find,' says he, 'a tlve-pouud note in nvy regimental small- 
clothes ; 

'T will bribe the sexton for your grave,' the ghost then vanished 
gaily, 
Saying, 'tlod bless you, wicked Captain Smith, although you've 
ruinoii Miss I'ailcy.'" 

There is no end to these legends; the whole pro- 
vince is full of them. The Province Building is 
stuffed with rich historical manuscripts, that oi\ly 
wait t'or the antivpuvriaji explorer.* 

* Since n\y visit tl\is work has actually commeueed. At the 
close of the legislative session of ISr^T, the Hon. .Toseph Howe 
moved, and the Hon. Attoruey-Cicneral seconded, and the House, 
after ^ome demur, ivsolved, that his KxccUency be requested to 
appoint a commission for examining and arranging the records of the 
Province. During the recess the ortice w;\s instituted, and Thomas 
B. Akins, Esq., a gentleman distinguished for {mtiquariau tASte and 



WITH THE IILU K NOSES. 281 

But now WC3 ji])[)r()!icli I ho rttnlion of llio ^vviit 
Nova Scoiiii Jvailvvay, n'lwa and llir(HM|uarter 
miles in Icngtli, tliaf. skii'tH tlio- niarii,in of lu'd 

rc^sciircli, \v!iK iippoiiitcd coniinij^slonor. It was known lli:il, in |Jh» 
garrctH or collar.s oC ihr. I'l-ovnu'c Miiildin^ wen; liciipM of niann- 
Hrripf, I'ci'oids, of various kinds; hut their exact nature and vahic 
wcr(! oidy surmised. Sotno of tliese had vanished, it is said, hy tho 
agency of rats and niico ; and moth and mohl wore doing their 
work on other portions. To stay tho waste, to ascertain what tiio 
heaps contained, and to arrange doi'unienls at all worthy of prc;- 
scrvation, tho commission was appointed. Mr. Akins has been I'or 
somo months at the superintendence of tho work, helped by a very 
industrious assistant, Mr. James Farqtdiar. Very ph'asing results 
indeed have been realized. Several boxes of documents, arranged 
and labelled, have been packed, and fifteen or twenty volumes of 
interesting manuscripts have been prepared. Some of these are of 
great interest, rehitlve to the history of the I'rovince, and of 
British America generally, bcMUg original i)apers concerning tho 
,eon(|uest and settling of the Provinces, and liaving reference to tho 
Acadian French, the Indians, the taking of Louisburgh, of Quebec, 
and other matters of historic importance connected with tho sup- 
pression of French dominion in Anterica. We understand somt! «)f 
ihc^se documcMits prove, as many previously believed, that what 
appeared to be a st(>rn nect^ssity, and not wanton oppression or 
tyranny, i-auscd the painfid dispersion of the former French inhabit- 
ants of llu^ more poetic at\d pastoral parts of Acadia. If this b(> 
so, some excellent sentiment and ehxjuent romance will have to be 
taken with considerable modification. A few of the most indig- 
nant bursts (?) in Longfellow's fine poem of " Evangeline" may be 
in this predicament ; and may have to be read, not exactly as so much 
gospel, but rather as rhetorical extremes, unsubstantial, but too 



282 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

ford Basin, and ends at the head of that blue 
sheet of water in the village of Sackville. It is 
amusing to see the gravity and importance of 
the conductor, in uniform frock-coat and with 
crown and Y. R. buttons, as he paces up and down 

elegant to be altogether discarded. In volumes alluded to, of the 
record commission, the dispatches, and letters, and other docu- 
ments of a former age, and in the handwriting, or from the imme- 
diate dictation, of eminent personages, will present very attractive 
material for those who find deep interest in such venerable in- 
quiries ; who obtain from this kind of lore a charming renewal of 
the past, a clearing up of local history, and an almost face-to-face 
conference with persons whose names are landmarks of national 
annals. The commission not only examines and arranges, but 
forms copious characteristic "contents " of the volumes, and an 
index for easy reference ; it also keeps a journal of each day's pro- 
ceedings. The " contents " tell the nature and topics of each 
document, and will thus facilitate research, and prevent much 
injurious turning over of the manuscripts. The work, too long 
delayed, has been happily commenced. Its neglect was felt to be a 
fault and a reproach, and serious loss was known to impend ; but 
still it was put off, and spoken lightly of, and sneered at, and a 
very mistaken economy pretended, until last legislative session, 
when it was adopted by accident apparently, and is now in success- 
ful operation. The next questions are, how will the arranged docu- 
ments be preserved ? who will have them in charge ? will they be 
allowed to be scattered about in the hands of privileged persons, to 
be lost wholesale ? or will they, as they should, be sacredly con- 
served, a store to which all shall have a common but well-guarded 
right of access and research. — Halifax Sun^ Dec. 9, IBS'?. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 283 

the platform before starting ; and the quiet dignity 
of the sixpenny ticket-office ; and the busy air of 
the freight-master, checking off boxes and bundles 
for the distant terminus — so distant that it can 
barely be distinguished by the naked eye. But it 
was a pleasant ride, that by the Basin ! 'Not less 
pleasant because of the company of an old friend, 
who, with wife and children, went with me to the 
end of the iron road. Arrived there, we parted, 
with many a hearty hand-shake, and thence by 
stage to Windsor, on the river Avon, forty-live 
miles or so west of Halifax. 

My fellow-passenger on the stage-top was a pony ! 
Yes, a real pony ! not bigger, however, than a good 
sized pointer dog, although his head was of most 
preposterous horse-like length. This equine Tom 
Thumb, was one of the mustangs, or wild horses of 
Sable Island, some little account of which here 
may not be uninteresting. But first let me say, in 
order not to tax the credulity of my reader too 
much, that pony did not stand upright upon the 
roof of the coach, as may have been surmised, but 
was very cleverly laid upon his side, with his four 
legs strapped in the form of a saw-buck, precisely as 
butchers tie the legs of calves or of sheep together, 
for transportation in carts to the shambles, only 
pony's fetters were not so cruel — ^indeed he seemed 



284: ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

to be quite at his ease — ^like tlie member of tbe 
foreign legion on the road to Dartmouth. 

Now then, pony's birth-place is one of the most 
interesting upon our coast. Do you remember it, 
my transatlantic traveller? The little yellow spot 
that greets you so far out at sea, and bids you wel- 
come to the western hemisphere ? I hope you have 
seen it in fine weather; many a goodly ship has 
left her bones upon that yellow island in less 
auspicious seasons. The first of these misad- 
yenturers was Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was 
lost in a storm close by ; the memorable words 
with which he hailed his consort are now familiar 
to every reader: "Heaven," said he, "is as near 
by sea as by land," and .so bade the world farewell 
in the tempest. Legends of wrecks of buccaneers, 
of spectres, multiply as we penetrate into the mys- 
terious history of the yellow island. And its pre- 
sent aspect is sufficiently tempting to the adven- 
turous, for whom — 

" If danger other charms have none, 
Then danger's self is lure alone." 

The following description, from a lecture deliv- 
ered m Halifax, by Dr. J. Bernard Gilpin, will 
commend itself to our modern Eobinson Oru- 

soes : 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 285 

"Should any one be visiting the island now, he 
might see, about ten miles' distance, looking sea- 
ward, half a dozen low, dark hummocks on the 
horizon. As he approaches, they gradually re- 
solve themselves into hills fringed by breakers, and 
by and by the white sea beach with its continued 
surf-the sand-hills, part naked, part waving in 
grass of the deepest green, unfold themselves— a 
house and a barn dot the western extremity-here 
and there along the wild beach lie the ribs of un- 
lucky traders half-buried in the shifting sand. By 
this time a red ensign is waving at its peak, and 
from a tall flag-staff and crow's nest erected upon 
the highest hill midway of the island, an answering 
flag is waving to the wind. Before the anchor is 
let go, and the cutter is rounding to in five fathoms 
of water, men and horses begin to dot the beach, 
a life-boat is drawn rapidly on a boat-cart to the' 
beach, manned, and fairly breasting the breakers 
upon the bar. It may have been three long win- 
ter months that this boat's crew have had no tid- 
ings of the worid, or they may have three himdred 
emigrants and wrecked crews, waiting to be carried 
off. The hurried greetings over, news told and 
newspapers and letters given, the visitor prepares 
to return with them to the island. Should it be 
evening, he will see the cutter already under weigh 



286 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

and standing seaward; but, should, it be fine 
weather, plenty of day, and wind right off the 
shore, even then she lies to the wind anchor apeak, 
and mainsail hoisted, ready to run at a moment's 
notice, so sudden are the shifts of wind, and so hard 
to claw off from those treacherous shores. But the 
life-boat is now entering the perpetual fringe of 
surf — a few seals tumble and play in the broken 
waters, and the stranger draws his breath hard, as 
the crew bend to their oars, the helmsman standing 
high in the pointed stern, with loud command and 
powerful arm keeping her true, the great boat goes 
riding on the back of a huge wave, and is carried 
high up on the beach in a mass of struggling water. 
To spring from their seats into the water, and hold 
hard the boat, now on the point of being swept 
back by the receding wave, is the work of an in- 
stant. Another moment they are left high and 
dry on the beach, another, and the returning wave 
and a vigorous run of the crew has borne her out 
of all harm's way. 

" Such is the ceremony of landing at Sable 
Island nine or ten months out of the year : though 
there are at times some sweet halcyon days when a 
lad might land in a fiat. Dry-shod the visitor 
picks his way between the thoroughly drenched 
crew, picks up a huge scallop or two, admires the 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 287 

tumbling play of the round-lieaded seals, and plods 
his way through the deep sand of an opening 
between the hills, or gulch (so called) to the head- 
quarters establishment. And here, for the last 
fifty years, a kind welcome has awaited all, be they 
voluntary idlers or sea-wrecked men. Screened by 
the sand-hills, here is a well-stocked barn and barn- 
yard, filled with its ordinary inhabitants, sleek 
milch cows and heady bulls, lazy swine, a horse 
grazing at a tether, with geese and ducks and fowls 
around. Two or three large stores and boat-houses, 
quarters for the men, the Superintendent's house, 
blacksmith shop, sailors' home for sea-wrecked men, 
and oil-house, stand around an irregular square, 
and surmounted by the tall fiag-staflf and crow's 
nest on the neighboring hill. So abrupt the con- 
trast, so snug the scene, if the roar of the ocean 
were out of his ears, one might fancy himself 
twenty miles inland. 

"Nearly the first thing the visitor does is to 
mount the flag-staflf, and climbing into the crow's 
nest, scan the scene. The ocean bounds him every- 
where. Spread east and west, he views the nar- 
row island in form of a bow, as if the great 
Atlantic waves had bent it around, nowhere much 
above a mile wide, twenty-six miles long, including 



288 ACADIA, OR A MO^-TH 

the dry bars, and holding a shallow lake thirteen 
miles long in its centre. 

" There it all lies spread like a map at his feet — 
grassj hill and sandy valley fading away into the 
distance. On the foreground the outpost men 
galloping their rough ponies into head-quarters, 
recalled by the flag flying above his head; the 
West-end house of refuge, with bread and matches, 
firewood and kettle, and directions to find water, 
and head-quarters with flag-staff* on the adjoining 
hill. Every sandy peak or grassy knoll with a 
dead man's name or old ship's tradition — ^Baker's 
Hill, Trott's Cove, Scotchman's Head, French Gar- 
dens — traditionary spot where the poor convicts 
expiated their social crimes — the little burial- 
ground nestling in the long grass of a high hill, 
and consecrated to the repose of many a sea-tossed 
limb ; and two or three miles down the shallow 
lake, the South-side house and barn, and staff and 
boats lying on the lake beside the door. 'Nine 
miles further dowuj by the help of a glass, he may 
view the flag-staff at the foot of the lake, and five 
miles further the East-end look-out, with its staff 
and watch-house. Herds of wild ponies dot the 
hills, and black duck and sheldrakes are heading 
their young broods on the mirror-like ponds. Seals 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 289 

innumerable are basking on the warm sands, or 
piled like ledges of rock along the shores. The 
Glascow's bow, the Maskonemet's stern, the East 
Boston's hulk, and the grinning ribs of the well- 
fastened Guide are spotting the sands, each with 
its tale of last adventure, hardships passed, and 
toil endured. The whole picture is set in a silver- 
frosted frame of rolling surf and sea-ribbed sand.'* 

The patrol duty of the hardj islander is thus 
described: 

"Mounted upon his hardy pony, the solitary 
patrol starts upon his lonely way. He rides up the 
centre valleys, ever and anon mounting a grassy 
bill to look seaward, reaches the West-end bar, 
speculates upon perchance a broken spar, an empty 
bottle, or a cask of beef struggling in the land- 
wash — now fords the shallow lake, looking well for 
his land-range, to escape the hole where Baker was 
drowned; and coming on the breeding-ground of 
the countless birds, his pony's hoof with a reckless 
smash goes crunching through a dozen eggs or 
callow young. He fairly puts his pony to her 
mettle to escape the cloud of angry birds which, " 
arising in countless numbers, dent his weather- 
l:)eaten tarpaulin with then- sharp bills, and snap 

13 



290 ACADIA, ORAMONTH 

Ms pony's ears, and confuse him witli their sharp, 
shrill cries. Ten ininntes more, and he is holding 
hard to count the seals. There they lie, old ocean 
flocks, resting their wave-tossed limbs — ^great ocean 
bulls, and cows, and calves. He marks them all. 
The wary old male turns his broad moustached 
nostrils to the tainted gale of man and horse sweep- 
ing down upon them, and the whole herd are 
simultaneously lumbering a retreat. And now he 
goes, plying his little short whip, charging the 
whole herd to cut off their retreat for the pleasure 
and fun of galloping in and over and amongst fifty 
great bodies, rolling and tumbling and tossing, and 
splashing the surf in their awkward endeavors to 
escape." 

And now to return to our pony, who seems to 
sympathize with his fellow-traveller, for every in- 
stant he raises his head as if he would peep into 
his note-book. Let me quote this of him and of 
his brethren : 

"When the present breed of wild ponies was 
introduced, there is no record. In an old print, 
seemingly a hundred years old, they are depicted 
as being lassoed by men in cocked hats and antique 
habiliments. At present, three or four hundred are 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 291 

• 
their utmost numbers, and it is ciirions to observe 

bow in their figures and habits they approach the 
wild races of Mexico or the Ukraine. They are 
divided into herds or gangs, each having a separate 
pasture, and each presided over by an old male, 
conspicuous by the length of his mane, rolling in 
tangled masses over eye and ear down to his fore 
arm. Half his time seems taken up in tossing it 
from his eyes as he collects his out-lying mares and 
foals on the approach of strangers, and keeping 
them well up in a pack boldly faces the enemy 
whilst they retreat at a gallop. K pressed, how- 
ever, he, too, retreats on their rear. He brooks no 
undivided allegiance, and many a fierce battle is 
waged by the contending chieftains for the honor 
of the herd. In form they resemble the wild 
horses of all lands : the large head, thick, shaggy 
neck of the male, low withers, paddling gait, and 
sloping quarters, have all their counterparts in the 
mustang and the horse of the Ukraine. There 
seems a remarkable tendency in these horses to 
assume the Isabella colors, the light chestnuts, and 
even the piebalds or paint horses of the Indian 
prairies or the Mexican Savannah. The annual 
drive or herding, usually resulting in the whole 
island being swept from end to end, and a kicking, 
snorting, half-terrified mass driven into a large 



292 ACADIA, OE A MONTH 

pound, from which two or three dozen are selected, 
lassoed, and exported to town, affords fine sport, 
wild riding, and plenty of falls." 
Thns much for Sable Island. 

" Dark isle of mourning ! aptly art thou named, 

For thou hast been the cause of many a tear ; 
For deeds of treacherous strife too justly famed. 

The Atlantic's charnel — desolate and drear ; 

A thing none love, though wand'ring thousands fear — 
If for a moment rest the Muse's wing 

Where through the waves thy sandy wastes appear, 
'Tis that she may one strain of horror sing, 
Wild as the dashing waves that tempests o'er thee fling."* 

And now pony we must part. Windsor ap- 
proaches ! Yonder among the embowering 
trees is the residence of Judge Halliburton, 
the author of "Sam Slick." How I admire 
him for his hearty hostility to republican institu- 
tions ! It is natural, straightforward, shrewd, and, 
no doubt, sincere. At the same time, it affords an 
example of how much the colonist or satellite form 
of government tends to limit the scope of the mind, 
which under happier skies and in a wider intelli- 
gence might have shone to advantage. 

* Poem by the Hon. Joseph Howe. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 293 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Windsor-upon-Avon — Ride to the Gasperau — The Basin of Minaa — 
Blomidon— This is the Acadian Land — Basil, the Blacksmith — A 
Yankee Settlement — Useless Reflections. 

Windsor lies upon the river Avon. It is not the 
Avon which runs by Stratford's storied banks, but 
still it is the Avon. There is something in a name. 
Witness it, O river of the Blue IN'oses ! 

I cannot recall a prettier village than this. If 
you doubt my word, come and see it. Yonder we 
discern a portion of the Basin of Minas ; around us 
are the rich meadows of E'ova Scotia. Intellect 
has here placed a crowning college upon a hill ; 
opulence has surrounded it with picturesque villas. 
A ride into the country, a visit to a bachelor's 
lodge, studded with horns of moose and cariboo, 
with woodland scenes and Landseer's pictures, and 
then — over the bridge, and over the Avon, towards 
Grand-Pre and the Gasperau ! I suppose, by this 
time, my dear reader, you are tired of sketches of 
lake scenery, mountain scenery, pines and spruces, 
strawberry blossoms, and other natural features of 



294 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

the province ? For my part, I rode throngli a 
strawberrj-bed three hundred miles long — ^from 
Sydney to Halifax — diversified by just such patches 
of scenery, and was not tired of it. But it is a dif- 
ferent matter when you come to put it on paper. 
So I forbear. 

Up hill we go, soon to approach the tragic the- 
atre. A crack of the whip, a stretch of the leaders, 
and now, suddenly, the whole valley comes in view ! 
Before us are the great waters of Minas ; yonder 
Blomidon bursts upon the sight ; and below, curv- 
ing like a scimitar around the edge of the Basin, 
and against the distant cliffs that shut out the 
stormy Bay of Fundy, is the Acadian land^-the 
idyllic meadows of Grand-Pre lie at our feet. 

The Abbe Beynal's account of the colony, as it 
appeared one hundred years ago, I take from the 
pages of Haliburton : 

" Hunting and fishing, which 'had formerly been 
the delight of the colony, and might have still sup- 
plied it with subsistence, had no further attraction 
for a simple and quiet people, and gave way to 
agriculture, which had been established in the 
marshes and low lands, by repelling with dykes the 
sea and rivers which covered these plains. These 
grounds yielded fifty for one at first, and afterwards 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 295 

fifteen or twenty for one at least ; wheat and oats 
succeeded best in them, but they likewise produced 
rye, barley and maize. There were also potatoes in 
great plenty, the use of which was become common. 
At the same time these immense meadows were 
covered with numerous flocks. They com]3uted as 
many as sixty thousand head of horned cattle ; and 
most families had several horses, though the tillage 
was carried on by oxen. Their habitations, which 
were constructed of wood, were extremely conve- 
nient, and furnished as neatly as substantial farm- 
er's houses in Europe. They reared a great deal 
of poultry of all kinds, which made a variety in 
their food, at once wholesome and plentiful. Their 
ordinary drink was beer and cider, to which they 
sometimes added rum. Tlieir usual clothing was 
in general the produce of their own flax, or the 
fleeces of their own sheej) ; with these they made 
common linens and coarse cloths. If any of them 
had a desire for articles of greater luxury, they prO" 
cured them from Annapolis or Louisburg, and gave 
in exchange corn, cattle or furs. The neutral 
French had nothing else to give their neighbors, 
and made still fewer exchanges among themselves ; 
because each separate family was able, and had 
been accustomed to provide for its own wants. 
They therefore knew nothing of paper currency, 



296 ACADIA, OK A MONTH 

which was so common throughout the rest of ^orth 
America. Even the small quantity of gold and 
silver which had been introduced into the colony, 
did not inspire that activity in which consists its 
real value. Their manners were of course extremely 
simple. There was seldom a cause, either civil or 
criminal, of importance enough to be carried be- 
fore the Court of Judication, established at Anna- 
polis. Whatever little differences arose from time 
to time among them, were amicably adjusted by 
their elders. All their public acts were drawn by 
their pastors, who had likewise the keeping of their 
wills ; for which, and their religious services, the 
inhabitants paid a twenty-seventh part of their har- 
vest, which was always sufficient to afford more 
means than there were objects of generosity. 

" Real misery was wholly unknown, and benevo- 
lence anticipated the demands of poverty.* Every 
misfortune was relieved, as it were, before it could 
be felt, without ostentation on the one hand, and 
without meanness on the other. It was, in short, a 
society of brethren ; every individual of which was 

* At the present moment, the poor in the Township of Clare 
are maintained by the inhabitants at large ; and being members of 
one great family, spend the remainder of their days in visits from 
house to house. An illegitimate child is almost unknown in the 
settlements. 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 297 

equally ready to give, and to receive, what lie 
thought the common right of mankind. So perfect 
a harmony naturally prevented all those connections 
of gallantry which are so often fatal to the peace 
of families. This evil was prevented by early mar- 
riages, for no one passed his youth in a state of 
celibacy. As soon as a young man arrived to the 
proper age, the community built him a house, 
broke up the lands about it, and supplied him with 
all the necessaries of life for a twelvemonth. There 
he received the partner whom he had chosen, and 
who brought him her portion in flocks. This new 
family grew and prospered like the others. In 
1755, all together made a population of eighteen 
thousand souls. Such is the picture of these people, 
as drawn by the Abbe Reynal. By many, it is 
thought to represent a state of social happiness 
totally inconsistent with the frailties and passions 
of human nature, and that it is worthy rather of the 
poet than the historian. In describing a scene of 
rural felicity like this, it is not improbable that his 
narrative has partaken of the warmth of feeling for 
which he was remarkable ; but it comes much 
nearer the truth than is generally imagined. Tra- 
dition is fresh and positive in the various parts of 
the United States where they were located respect- 
ing their guileless, peaceable, and scrupulous cha- 

13* 



298 ACADIA, OK A MONTH 

racter ; and the descendants of those, whose long 
cherished and endearing local attachment induced 
them to return to the land of their nativity, still 
deserve the name of a mild, frugal, and pious 
people." 

As we rest here upon the summit of the Gaspe- 
rau Mountain, and look down on yonder valley, we 
can readily imagine such a people. A pastoral 
people, rich in meadow-lands, secured by laborious 
dykes, and secluded from the struggling outside 
world. But we miss the thatch-roof cottages, by 
hundreds, which should be the prominent feature 
in the picture, the vast herds of cattle, the belfries 
of scattered village chapels, the murmur of evening 
fields, 

" Where peace was tinkling in the shepherd's bell, 
And singing with the reapers." 

These no longer exist : 

" Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand- 
Pre." 

I sank back in the stage as it rolled down the 
mountain-road, and fairly covered my eyes with my 
hands, as I repeated "Webster's boast: "Thank 
God! I too am an American." "But," said I, re- 
covering, " thank God, I belong to a State that has 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 299 

never bragged much of its great moral antece- 
dents !" and in that reflection I felt comforted, and 
the load on my back a little lightened. 

A few weeping willows, the never-failing relics 
of an Acadian settlement, jet remain on the road- 
side ; these, with the dykes and Great Prairie itself, 
are the only memorials of a once happy people. 
The sun was just sinking behind the Gasperau 
mountain as we entered the ancient village. Tliere 
was a smithy beside the stage-house, and we could 
see the dusky glow of the forge within, and the 
swart mechanic 

" Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a plaything, 
Nailing the shoe in its place." 

But it was not Basil the Blacksmith, nor one of his 
descendants, that held the horse-hoof. The face of 
the smith was of the genuine New England type, 
and just such faces as I saw everywhere in the vil- 
lage. In the shifting panorama of the itinerary I 
suddenly found myself in a hundred-year-old colony 
of genuine Yankees, the real true blues of Connecti- 
cut, quilted in amidst the blue noses of ISTova 
Scotia. 

But of the poor Acadians not one remains now 
in the ancient village. It is a solemn comment 
upon their peaceful and unrevengeful natures, that 



300 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

two Imndred settlers from 'New England remained 
unmolested upon tlieir lands, and tliat the descend- 
ants of those I^ew England settlers now occupy 
them. A solemn comment upon our history, and 
the touching epitaph of an exterminated race. 

Much as we may admire the various bays and 
lakes, the inlets, promontories, and straits, the 
mountains and woodlands of this rarely- visited cor- 
ner of creation — and, compared with it, we can 
boast of no coast scenery so beautiful — the valley 
of Grand-Pre transcends all the rest in the Pro- 
vince. Only our valley of "Wyoming, as an inland 
picture, may match it, both in beauty and tradition. 
One has had its Gertrude, the other its Evangeline. 
But Campbell never saw Wyoming, nor has Long- 
fellow yet visited the shores of the Basin of Minas. 
And I may venture to say, neither poet has touched 
the key-note of divine anger which either story 
might have awakened. 

But let us be thankful for those simple and beau- 
tiful idyls. After all, it is a question whether the 
greatest and noblest impulses of man are not 
awakened rather by the sympathy we feel for the 
oppressed, than by the hatred engendered by the 
acts of the oppressor ? 

I wish I could shake off these useless reflections 
of a bygone period. But who can help it ? 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 801 

" This is the forest primeval ; but where are the hearts that be- 
neath it 

Leaped like the roe when it hears in the wood! .md the voice of the 
huntsman ? 

Where is the thatch-roof village, the home of Acadian farmers — 

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands ? 

Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever de- 
parted!" 



302 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 



CHAPTEE XX. 

The Yalley of Acadia — A Morning Ride to the Dykes — ^An unex- 
pected Wild-duck Chase — High Tides — The Gasperau—Sunset — 
The Lamp of History — Conclusion. 

The eastern sun glittered on roof and window-pane 
next morning. ]^eat houses in the midst of trim 
gardens, rise tier above tier on the hill-slopes that 
overlook the prairie lands. A green expanse, seve- 
ral miles in width, extends to the edge of the dykes, 
and in the distance, upon its verge, here and there 
a farmhouse looms up in the warm haze of a sum- 
mer morning. On the left hand the meadows roll 
away until they are merged in the bases of the cliffs 
that, stretching forth over the blue water of the 
Basin, end abruptly at Cape Blomidon. Tliese cliffs 
are precise counterparts of our own Palisades, on 
the Hudson. Then to the right, again, the vision 
follows the hazy coast-line until it melts in the 
indistinct outline of wave and vapor, back of which 
rises the Gasperau mountain, that protects the val- . 
ley on the east with corresponding barriers of rock 
and forest. Within this hemicycle lie the waters 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 303 

of Minas, bounded on the north by the horizon-line, 
the clouds and the sky. 

Once happy Acadia nestled in this valley. Does 
it not seem incredible that even Puritan tyranny 
could have looked with hard and pitiless eyes upon 
such a scene, and invade with rapine, sword and 
fire, the peace and serenity of a land so fair? 

A morning ride across the Grand-Pre convinced 
me that the natural opulence of the valley had not 
been exaggerated. These once desolate and bitter 
marshes, reclaimed from the sea by the patient 
labor of the French peasant, are about three miles 
broad by twenty miles long. The prairie grass, 
even at this time of year, is knee-deep, and, as I 
was informed, yields, without cultivation, from two 
to four tons to the acre. The fertility of the valley 
in other respects is equally great. The dyke lands 
are intersected by a network of white causeways, 
raised above the level of the meadows. We passed 
over these to the outer edge of the dykes. " Tliese 
lands," said my young companion, '' are filled in 
this season with immense fiocks of all kinds of 
feathered game." And I soon had reason to be 
convinced of the truth of it, for just then we started 
up what seemed to be a wounded wild-duck, upon 
which out leaped my companion from the wagon 
and gave chase. A bunch of tall grass, upon the 



304: ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

edge of a little pool, lay between him and the game ; 
he brushed hastily through this, and out of it poured 
a little feathered colony. As these young ones were 
not yet able to fly, they were soon captured — seven 
little black ducks safely nestled together under the 
seat of the wagon, and poor ISTiobe trailed her 
broken wing within a tempting distance in vain. 

We were soon upon the dykes themselves, which 
are raised npon the edge of the meadows, and are 
quite insignificant in height, albeit of great extent 
otherwise. But from the bottom of the dykes to 
the edge of yonder sparkling water, there is a bare 
beach, full three miles in extent. What does this 
mean ? What are these dykes for, if the enemy is 
so far off" ? The answer to this query discloses a re- 
markable phenomenon. The tide in this part of 
the world rises sixty or seventy feet every twelve 
hours. At present the beach is bare ; the five 
rivers of the valley — the Gasperau, the Cornwallis, 
the Canard, the Habitant, the Perot — are empty. 
Betimes the tide will roll in in one broad unretreat- 
ing wave, surging and shouldering its way over the 
expanse, filling all the rivers, and dashing against 
the protecting barriers under our feet ; but before 
sunset the rivers will be emptied again, the bridges 
will uselessly hang in the air over the deserted 
channels, the beach will vawn wide and bare where 

7 V 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 305 

a sliip of the line might have anchored. Some- 
times a stranger schooner from ]^ew England, 
secure in a safe distance from shore, drops down in 
six or seven fathom. Then, suddenly, the ebb sweeps 
off from the intruder, and leaves his two-master 
keeled over, with useless anchor and cable exposed, 
" to point a moral and adorn a tale." Sometimes 
a party will take boat for a row upon the placid 
bosom of this bay ; but woe unto them if they con- 
sult not the almanac ! A mistake may leave them 
high and dry on the beach, miles from the dykes, 
and as the tide comes in with a hore^ a sudden 
influx, wave above wave, the risk is imminent. 

I passed two days in this happy valley, sometimes 
riding across to the dykes, sometimes visiting the 
neighboring villages, sometimes wandering on foot 
over the hills to the upper waters of the rivers. 
And the Gasperau in particular is an attractive 
little mountain sylph, as it comes skipping down 
the rocks, breaking here and there out in a broad 
cascade, or rippling and singing in the heart of the 
grand old forest. I think my friend Kensett might 
set his pallet here, and pitch a brief tent by Minas 
and the Gasperau to advantage. For my own part, 
I would that I had my trout-pole and a fly ! 

But now the sun sinks behind the cliffs of 
Elow-me-down. To-morrow I must take the 



306 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

steamer for home, '' sweet home !" What shall I 
say in conclusion? Shall I stop here and write 
finis^ or once more trim the lamp of history ? I 
feel as it were the w^hole wrongs of the French 
Province concentrated here, as in the last drop of 
its life blood, no tender dream of pastoral descrip- 
tion, no clever veil of elaborate verse, can conceal 
the hideons features of this remorseless act, this 
wanton and useless deed of l^ew England cruelty. 
Do not mistake me, my reader. Do not think that 
I am prejudiced against ISTew England. But 1 hate 
tyranny — under whatever disguise, or in whatever 
shape — ^in an individual, or in a nation — in a state, or 
in a congregation of states ; so do you ; and of course 
you will agree with me, that so long as the maxim 
obtains, "that the object justifies the means," cer- 
tain effects must follow, and this maxim was the 
guiding stai' of our forefathers when they marched 
into the French province. 

■Hie peculiar situation of the Acadians, embar- 
rassed the colonists of Massachusetts. The French 
neutrals^ had taken the oath of fidelity, but they 
refused to take the oath of allegiance which com- 
pelled them to bear arms against their countrymen, 
and the Indians, who from first to last had been 
their constant and devoted friends. The long 
course of persecution, for a century and a half, 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 307 

had struck but one spark of resistance from this 
people— the stand of the three hundred young 
warriors at Fort Sejour. Upon this act followed 
the retaliation of the Pilgrim Fathers. 'Thej de- 
termined to remove and disperse the Acadians 
among the British colonies. To carry out this edict, 
Colonel Winslow, with five transports and a Sufii- 
cient force of E"ew England troops, was dispatched 
to the Basin of Minas. At a consultation, held 
between Colonel Winslow and Captain Murray, it 
was agreed that a proclamation should be issued at 
the different settlements, requiring the attendance 
of the people at the respective posts on the same 
day ; which proclamation would be so ambiguous 
in its nature, that the object for which they were to 
assemble could not be discerned, and so peremptory 
in its terms, as to insure implicit obedience. This 
instrument having been drafted and approved, was 
distributed according to the original plan. That 
which was addressed to the people inhabiting the 
country now comprised within the limit of King's 
County, was as follows : 

# 

" ' To the inhabitants of the Dist/rict of Grand-Pre 
Minas, River Canard, etc.; as well ancient, as 
young men and lads : 

Whereas, his Excellency the Governor has 



(( ( 



308 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

instructed us of his late resolution, respecting tlie 
matter proposed to the inhabitants, and has ordered 
us to communicate the same in person, his Excel- 
lency, being desirous that each of them should be 
fully satisfied of his Majesty's intentions, which he 
has also ordered us to communicate to you, such as 
they have been given to him : We therefore order and 
strictly enjoin, by these presents, all of the inhab- 
itants, as well of the above-named District, as of all 
the other Districts, both old men and young men, 
as well as all the lads of ten years of age, to attend 
at the church at Grand-Pr6, on Friday the fifth 
instant, at three of the clock in the afternoon, that 
we may impart to them what we are ordered to 
communicate to them ; declaring that no excuse 
will be admitted on any pretence whatever, on pain 
of forfeiting goods and chattels, in default of real 
estate. — Griven at Grand Pre, second Septemberj 
1755, and twenty-ninth year of his Majesty's reign. 

John Winslow.' 

"In obedience to this summons, four hundred 
and eighteen able-bodied men assembled. These 
being shut info the church (for that too had become 
an arsenal). Colonel Winslow placed himself with 
his officers, in the centre, and addressed them 
thus: 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 309 

" ' Gentlemen : I have received from his Excel- 
lency, Governor Lawrence, the King's commission, 
which 1 have in mj hand ; and by his orders you 
are convened together, to manifest to you his Majes- 
ty's final resolution to the French inhabitants of 
this his province of E"ova Scotia ; who, for almost 
half a century, have had more indulgence granted 
them than any of his subjects in any part of his 
dominions ; what use you have made of it you 
yourselves best know. The part of duty I am now 
upon, though necessary, is very disagreeable to my 
natural make and temper, as I know it must be 
grievous to you, who are of the same species ; but 
it is not my business to animadvert, but to obey 
such orders as I receive, and therefore, without 
hesitation, shall deliver you his Majesty's orders 
and instructions, namely, that your lands and tene- 
ments, cattle of all kinds and live stock of all sorts, 
are forfeited to the Crown ; with all other your 
effects, saving your money and household goods, 
and you yourselves to be removed from this his 
province. 

" ' Thus it is peremptorily his Majesty's orders, 
that the whole French inhabitants of these Dis- 
tricts be removed ; and I am, through his Majesty's 
goodness, directed to allow you liberty to carry off 
your money and household goods, as many as you 



310 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

can without discommoding the vessels yon go in. 
I shall do everything in mj power that all those 
goods be secured to yon, and that you are not 
molested in carrying them off; also that whole 
families shall go in the same vessel, and make this 
remove, which I am sensible must give yon a great 
deal of trouble, as easy as his Majesty's service will 
admit : and hope that, in whatever part of the 
world you may fall, you may be faithful subjects, a 
peaceable and happy people. I must also inform 
you that it is his Majesty's pleasure that you remain 
in security under the inspection and direction of 
the troops I have the honor to command.' 

"The poor people, unconscious of any crime, 
and full of concern for having incurred his Majes- 
ty's displeasure, petitioned Colonel Winslow for 
leave to visit their families, and entreated him to 
detain a part only of the prisoners as hostages ; 
urging with tears and prayers their intention to ful- 
fill their promise of returning after taking leave of 
their kindred and consoling them in their distresses 
and misfortunes. The answer of Colonel Winslow 
to this petition was to grant leave of absence to 
twenty only, for a single day. This sentence they 
bore with fortitude and resignation, but when the 
hour of embarkation arrived, in which they were 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 311 

to part with tlieir friends and relatives without a 
hope of ever seeing them again, and to be dispersed 
among strangers, whose language, customs, and 
religion, were opposed to their own, the weakness 
of human nature prevailed, and they were over- 
powered with the sense of their miseries. The 
young men were first ordered to go on board of one 
of the vessels. This they instantly and peremptorily 
refused to do, declaring that they would not leave 
their parents ; but expressed a willingness to com- 
ply with the order, provided they were permitted to 
embark with their families. The request was re- 
jected, and the troops were ordered to fix bayonets 
and advance toward the prisoners, a motion which 
had the effect of producing obedience on the part 
of the young men, who forthwith commenced their 
march. The road from the chapel to the shore — 
just one mile in length — was crowded with women 
and children ; who, on their knees, greeted them as 
they passed, with their tears and their blessings; 
while the prisoners advanced with slow and reluc- 
tant steps, weeping, praying, and singing hymns. 
This detachment was followed by the seniors, who 
passed through the same scene of sorrow and dis- 
tress. In this manner was the whole male part of 
the population of the District of Minas put on board 
the five transports stationed in the river Gasperau." 



312 ACADIA, OR A MONTH 

l^ow, my dear lady ; you wlio have followed the 
fortunes of Evangeline, in Longfellow's beautiful 
poem, and liaply wept over her weary pilgrimage, 
pray give a thought to the rest of the 18,000 sent 
into a similar exile ! And you, my dear friend, 
who have listened to the oracles of Plymouth pul- 
pits, take a Sabbath afternoon, and calmly consider 
how far you may venture to place your faith upon 
it, whether you can subscribe to the idolatrous 
worship of that boulder stone, and say — 

'* Rock of ages cleft for me, 
Let me to thy bosom flee ;" 

or whether you measure any other act between this 
present time and the past eighteen hundred years, 
except by the eternal principles of Righteousness 
and Truth ? 

Gentle reader, as we sit in this little inn-room, and 
see the ragged edge of the moon shimmering over 
the meadows of Grand-Pre, do we not feel a touch 
of the sin that soiled her garments a hundred years 
ago ? Had we not better abstain from blowing our 
Puritan trumpets so loudly, and wreathe with crape 
our banners for a season ? Let us rather date from 
more recent achievements. Let us take a fresh start 
in history and brag of nothing that antedates 
Bunker Hill. Here everybody has a hand to 



WITH THE BLUE NOSES. 313 

applaud. But for the age that preceded it, the least 
said about it the better ! There, out lamp ! and good 
night ! to-morrow " Home, sweet Home !" But I 
love this province ! 



14 



APPENDIX. 



815 



APPENDIX. 



Peooavi ! I hope the reader will forgive me for my luckless 
description of the procession to lay the corner stone of the 
Halifax Lunatic Asylum, in Chapter I. No person can trifle 
or jest with the object of so nohle a charity. But the pro- 
cession itself was pretty much as I have described it ; indeed, 
pretty much like all the civic processions I have ever wit- 
nessed in any country. The following account of the results 
of that good work may interest the reader : 

" A visit to the Lunatic Asylum building, on the eastern 
side of the harbor, furnishes some notes of interest. The walk 
from the ferry has very pleasing features of village, farming 
and woodland character. The building stands on a rising 
ground, which commands a noble view of the western bank 
of the harbor opposite ; northward, of the Narrows and Basin ; 
and southward, of the islands, headlands and ocean. The 
medical superintendent of the institution is actively engaged 
carrying out plans toward the completion of the building, 
and gives very courteous facilities to visitors. The part of the 
Asylum which now appears of such respectable dimensions is 
just one-third part of the intended building. It is expected 
to accommodate ninety patients ; the completed building, two 
hundred and fifty. The private and public rooms, cooking, 

<»17 



318 APPENDIX. 

serving, heating and other apartments appear to be very judi- 
ciously arranged, with an eye to good order, cheerfulness and 
thorough efficiency. The building is well drained, defective 
mason-work has been remedied, and all appears steadily ad- 
vancing towai'ds the consummation of wishes long entertained 
by its philanthropic projectors. The building is to be lighted 
with gas manufactured on the premises ; all the apartments 
are to be heated by steam ; and the water required for various 
purposes of the establishment, after being conveyed from the 
lakes, is to be raised to the loft immediately under the roof, 
and there held in tanks, ready for demand. The roofing we 
understand to be a model for lightness of material and firm- 
ness of construction. The heating apparatus occupies the 
underground floor. It consists of numerous coils of metal 
tubes, to which the steam is conveyed from an out-building, 
which contains the furnace and other apparatus. From the 
hot-air apartment the warm air is conveyed, by means of 
flues, to the various rooms of the building, each flue being 
under the immediate control of the oflicers of the institution. 
Ventilation is obtained by flues communicating with the space 
just below the roof; and the impure air is expected to pass 
off through openings in the cupola which rises above the roof 
ridges. By the heating apparatus the danger and trouble 
consequent on numerous fires are avoided, at about the same 
expense which the common mode would cause. Very judi- 
cious arrangements for drainage, laying off the grounds, etc., 
appear to have been adopted, and are in progress. The 
building is to be approached by a gracefully curved carriage 
road. The grounds are to be surrounded by a hawthorn 
fence, immediately within which will be a shaded, thoroughly 
drained path for widking. The slopes of the hill in front are 



APPENDIX. 319 

in course of levelling, and will soon present a scene of lawn 
and grain field ; while a southwest area is laid off as an ex- 
tensive garden and nursery of trees and shrubs. This impor- 
tant appendage to such an institution is charmingly situated, 
as regards scenery ; and, with its terraces, plantation, vegeta- 
ble and flower departments, etc., will soon be a very admira- 
ble place of resort for purposes of sanitary toil, or retirement 
and rest. "We rejoice that, altogether, the establishment 
promises to be a very decided proof of provincial advance, 
and a credit to the country. After all the diflBculties, delays 
and doubts that have occurred, this is a very gratifying result. 
The building is expected to be ready for reception of patients 
sometime in September, or the early part of October." — 
Halifax Morning Sun^ June 14, 1858. 



Halifax. — The following letter of a correspondent of the 
Kew ForJc Times may interest the reader. It is a very fair 
account of the aspect of the chief city of this Province : 

"The Lieutenant-Governor, Sir J. Gaspard le Marchant, is 
yaid to bo a severe disciplinarian. He served in the wars of 
the Peninsula, and is now being rewarded for his distin- 
guished services as Governor of this Province. Ho reviews 
the troops twice a week upon the Common, and is very strict. 
The evolutions of the rank and file are the most perfect exhi- 
bitions of the kind I have ever witnessed. During one of 
these reviews I took occasion to remark to a citizen that they 
were almost equal to the Seventh Kegiment of New York. 
The bystanders laughed incredulously. The bands are as per- 



320 APPENDIX. 

feet in movement as the troops. The whole affair passes off 
literally like clock-work, a pendulum being kept in sight of 
the reviewing officers, by which to measure the music of the 
bands, and step of the soldiers. Each review concludes with 
a presentation of the royal standard — the identical colors 
which were first unfurled upon the Kedan by this regiment at 
the fall of Sebastopol. The ceremony is impressive, an almost 
superstitious reverence being paid to the triumphant bunting. 
The review ended, the band remains for a half hour to play 
for the entertainment of the citizens, who generally attend 
in large numbers. 

" There are among the officers and soldiers of the 62d and 
63d many bearing upon their left breasts the Victoria medal, 
and other decorations bestowed for distinguished bravery at 
Sebastopol. The most eminent of these is Colonel Ingall, who 
has both breasts covered with these testimonials of bravery. 
They are not, however, confined to the officers, but many of 
the rank and file are favored in like manner. 

" The military as a whole are popular among the citizens, 
and many of the officers, and not a few of the privates since 
their return from the Crimea, have stormed other Malakoffs, 
when the victory has been as signal, if the risks have not 
been as great, carrying off, as trophies, some of the finest 
girls in the place. 

"Fpon entering this harbor from the sea the principal 
objects of interest to a stranger are the fortifications which 
line its two sides, the first three or four being round castles 
pierced for two tiers of guns, and having temporary wooden 
roofs thrown over them to protect the works ; they are sit- 
uated upon prominent points and islands commanding both 
entrances. The first principal fort is that situated at the 



APPENDIX. 321 

junction of tho ' northwest arm' with the harhor. This is 
a granite structure of some pretensions, and during tho past 
season was, with tho liigh level lands which surround it, 
made tlio headquarters or camping-ground for tlio trooi)s. 
Tents here covered all the hill-side, presenting a very pic- 
turesque appearance ; camp life was adopted in all its details, 
and the most thorough drilling was gone tln'ough with, in- 
cluding the digging of trenches, throwing up earth-works, etc. 
The fortifications upon George's Island, just below tlio town, 
are being extended and strengthened, and when completed, 
will be the principal defence of the harbor. The Citadel or 
Fort George, occupies the high, round hill which rises directly- 
back of the town, to about three hundred feet above the tide, 
and perfectly commands the town and adjacent harbor. There 
is said to be room enough within its walls for all the inliabitjmts 
of the town, to which they could retreat in case of a siege. 
From a personal inspection, however, I judge they would 
have to pack them pretty closely. The works cover an area 
of about six acres, there being a double line of forts, com- 
posed of massive granite, and presenting every variety of 
angle. A ditch twenty-five feet deep and sixty feet wide 
surrounds it on all sides, with a single entrance or bridge- 
way, on the east side, which could be removed in an hour. 
Two ravelins, which have been lately completed within tho 
walls, are elegant specimens of masonry. The whole hill is 
being rounded ofi^, and a line of earth-works are to be con- 
structed at its base at every salient angle. Tho parapet is now 
covered at wide intervals, with 82-pounders, mounted upon 
iron carriages. Extensive changes and improvements are 
being adopted, and when the present plans are complete, this 
fort, it is said, will mount over 400 guns. The cast-iron 



322 APPENDIX. 

swivel carriages are condemned as being too liable to injury 
from cannon-shots, and are all to be replaced bj others made 
of teak-wood. 

" There exists, evidently, some reluctance among the officers 
in command to a close inspection of these works by foreign- 
ers. An instance in point occurred to-day. There were two 
young men, Americans, looking at the fort. They had 
obtained permission, which is given in writing by the Quar- 
termaster-General, to inspect the Signal-Station, etc., but they 
were observed with paper and pencil in hand, taking down 
particular memoranda of the fortification, the size of guns, 
their number, the positions of the ravelins and what not. 
As this was considered a palpable breach of courtesy, a ser- 
geant tapped them on the shoulder and led them out of the 
gate, with a reprimand for what he called their want of good 
manners. It is a long time since anything of the kind has 
occurred. 

" This Citadel is the place fi*om which all vessels are sig- 
nalled to the town. The signal stations are four in number ; 
the first being at the Citadel, the second at ' York Eedcut,' 
five miles down the harbor, the third, * Camperdown,' some 
ten miles further, and the fourth, with which this last signals, 
is the island of ' Sambro,' ten miles south of the entrance 
to the harbor. The system is carried on by means of a series 
of black balls, which are hoisted in difterent positions upon 
two yard-arms, a long and a short one, placed one above the 
other on a tall flag-stafl\ The communication is very rapid, 
and is exempt from liability to mistakes. A sentence trans- 
mitting an order of any kind from one of the lower stations is 
sent and received in less than two minutes. The distance 
from 'Sambro,' the outer station, is about twenty miles 



APPENDIX. 323 

from the Citadel. Maryatt's code of marine signals is in use 
here. The new marine code, lately issued under the auspices 
of the London Board of Trade, 'for all nations,' is pro- 
nounced by the operator as too complicated to become of any 
practical use, necessitating, as it would, the employment of a 
'flag-lieutenant' on board every ship, who should do no- 
thing but the signalling, since not one captain in a hundred 
would ever have the time or patience to acquaint himself 
with its mysteries. 

" Some works of internal improvement are in progress, 
which will be important in promoting the prosperity and in 
developing the resources of this Province. A railroad across 
the Isthmus to Truro, with a branch-road to Windsor, will 
connect the interior towns with Halifax, and furnish modern 
facilities for communication with the other Provinces and 
with the States. Twenty-two miles of the road are already 
completed, and the remainder will be finished soon. A canal 
is also in progress from the head of Halifax harbor (north side) 
in the direction of Truro, which is to connect a remarkable 
chain of lakes with the Shubenacadie River, which empties 
into Minas' Basin at the head of the Bay of Fundy. Great 
results are anticipated in favor of the farming and other inter- 
ests along its route. The work is in an advanced stage to- 
wards completion. 

" There is, it is said, no portion of the American Continent 
so abundantly supplied with water communication as Nova 
Scotia. Tlie whole interior is a continuous chain of lakes. 
The coast is rocky and most unpromising, but the interior is 
said to contain some of the best farming land oast of Illinois. 
Hon. Albert Pillsbury, the American Consul, who is thoroughly 
conversant with the resources of the Province, declares it, in 



324: APPENDIX. 

Ms opinion, tlie richest portion of the American Continent — 
richest in coal, minerals and agricnltural resources. Mr. 
Pillsbury takes advantage of his well-deserved popularity in 
the Province to tell the Blue ISToses some home truths. On 
one occasion he told them it was evident the Lord knew they 
were the laziest people on the earth, and had, therefore, 
taken pity on them, and given them more facilities for trans- 
acting their business than were possessed by any other people 
under the sun. 

" In the newspaper line ITova Scotia appears to be fully up 
to the spirit of the age. The following is a list of all kinds 
published in the Province : 

" Tri- WeeJclies. — Morning Journal, Morning Chronicle, 
Morning Advertiser, the Sun, and British Colonist. 

" WeeMies. — Acadian Recorder, Nova Scotian, "Weekly Sun, 
and "Weekly Colonist. 

" Religious {?). — Church Times, Episcopal ; Presbyterian 
"Witness, Presbyterian Church of ITova Scotia, etc. ; Monthly 
Eecord, Established Church of Scotland or Kirk ; Christian 
Messenger, Baptist ; Catholic, Eoman Catholic ; "Wesleyan, 
Methodist. 

" Temperance. — The Abstainer. 

" WeeMies. — Yarmouth Herald, published at Yarmouth; 
Yarmouth Tribune (semi-weekly) ; Liverpool Transcript, 
Liverpool ; "Western Kews, Bridgetown ; Avon Herald (semi- 
weekly), Windsor ; Eastern Chronicle, Pictou ; Antigonish 
Casket, Antigonish ; Cape Breton ISTews, Sidney, 0. B. 

" In telegraphs they are better supplied than any other 
portion of the world of equal territory, and the same number 
of inhabitants. There are thirty-nine offices, and 1,300 miles 
of telegraphic wire in this Province. 



APPENDIX. 325 

" The Eeciprocity Treaty has largely increased the trade of 
ITova Scotia, but the means of intercommunication are still 
far behind the wants of the people. When it was proposed 
a year ago to place a steamer upon the line from Halifax to 
Boston, to carry freight and passengers, the idea was scouted 
as chimerical, and certain to fail. The Eastern State, a Phi- 
ladelphia-built propeller of 330 tons, was purchased and com- 
menced to ply fortnightly ; she has accommodations for fifty 
passengers, and two hundred tons of freight. She has seldom 
had less than fifty passengers upon any trip, and upon the 
last one from Halifax there were one hundred and sixty- 
three. The fare from Boston to Halifax is $10, meals in- 
cluded. She has also had a good supply of freight, and has 
cleared for her owners the last year over $2,500. Captain 
Killam, her commander, is highly esteemed, for his sailorly 
and gentlemanly qualities. In the opinion of shrewd busi- 
ness men, a steamer would pay between this and New York 
direct. At present, Boston virtually controls the fish-market 
in part by her intimate relations with the Provinces, and 
New York buys second-hand from them, when they might as 
well have their fish from first hands. 

" Government lands are to be purchased in any quantity at 
$1 per acre, and by an act of the Provincial Legislature, 
aliens are as free to purchase as native citizens or residents. 
Several American capitalists have availed themselves of the 
opening, and invested largely in the ' timber and farming 
lands of Nova Scotia, and an infusion of this element is all 
that is required to develop a prosperous future for this 
Province.' " Saile. " 



826 APPENDIX. 

"Tories. — The mimber of loyalists who arrived in Nova 
Scotia was veiy great. They constituted a hu'ge proportion of 
tlio original settlers in almost every section of the colony. So 
termed beoanse of their loyalty to the sovereign, and unwill- 
ingness to remain in the revolted and independent States, they 
found their way hither chiefly in the years ITSo-:!:. Some- 
times termed refugees, because of their seeking refuge on 
British soil from those with whom they had contended in the 
great Revolutionary struggle, the names ai-e often interchanged, 
whilst sometimes they are joined together in the title of 
* Loyalist Eefugees.' Xo less than 20,000 ai*rived prior to 
the close of the year in which the Independence of the United 
States was acknowledged. These chose spots suited to their 
inclinations, if not always adapted to tlieir wants, in the 
counties of Pigby, Annapolis, Guysboro', Shelburne, and 
Hants. In these five counties, for tlie most part^ are resident 
the children of the loyalists, though, as hinted, they are to be 
met wirli in smaller companies elsewhere. 

" We caimot doubt that the purest motives and highest sense 
of duty actuated very many, though not all, of this vast num- 
ber, when they turned their backs upon the houses and farms, 
the pursuits and business, the friends and relations of past 
vears. To this may, in some measure, be attributed the 
marked loyalty of this province. Pi-inciples of obedience to 
the l:nv^. and idlegiance to the crown, were instilled into the 
minds of their childi*en, who in their turn handed down the 
sentiments of their ancestors until the good leaven spread, and 
tended to strengthen that loyalty which already existed in the 
hearts of the people. ^More than once has this trait been mani- 
fested by our countrymen in tONvn and country. When the 
tirst blood of the rebellion in Canada was shed in 1837, meet- 



APPENDIX. 827 

ings were held in every village and settlement in the province, 
each proclaiming in fervent language the deepest attachment 
to the sovereign and the government, while in Halifax the 
people determined to support tlie wives and children of the 
ahseut troops. Wlien two years later the inhabitants of the 
State of Maine prepared to invade New Brunswick, the an- 
nouncement was received with intense feelings of regard for 
the honor of the British Crown. The House, which was then 
sitting, voted £100,000, and 8,000 men to aid the New Bruns- 
wickers in repelling the invaders, and rising in a body gave 
three cheers for the queen, and three for their loyal brethren 
of the sister province. Long may the feeling continue to 
exist, and grow within our borders ! long may we remain 
beneath the mild sway of that gracious queen, whoso virtues 
shed lustre on the crown she wears ! long may every Nova 
Scotian's voice exclaim, ' God save our noble Queen.'" — Nova 
Scotia and Nova ScotiaTis^ hy Kev. Geo. W. Hill, A.M. 

" Negroes. — There are to be found in the colony some five 
thousand negroes, whose ancestors came to the province in 
four distinct bodies, and at different tunes. The first class 
were originally slaves, who accompanied their masters from 
the older colonies ; but as the opinion prevailed that the courts 
would not recognize a state of slavery, they were liberated. 
On receiving their freedom they either remained in the 
employment of their former owners, or obtaining a small 
piece of lo.nd in the neighborhood, eked out a miserable 
existence, rarely improving their condition, bodily or mental. 

" There were, secondly, a number of free negroes, who ar- 
rived at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary war ; 
but an immense number of those were removed at their own 



328 APPENDIX. 

request to Sierra Leone, being dissatisfied with both the soil 
and climate. 

" Shortly after the removal of these people, the insurgent 
negroes of Jamaica were transported to Nova Scotia ; they 
were known by the name of Maroons in the island, and still 
termed so, on their landing at Halifax. Their story is replete 
with interest : during their brief stay in 1:^0 va Scotia they gave 
incredible trouble from their lawless and licentious habits, ia 
addition to costing the government no less a sum than ten 
thousand pounds a year. Their idleness and gross conduct 
at last determined the government to send them, as the 
others, to Sierra Leone, which was accordingly done in the 
year 1803, after having resided at Preston for the space of four 
years. 

" The last arrival of Africans in a body was at the conclusion 
of the second American War in 1815, when a large number 
were permitted to take refuge on board the British squadron, 
blockading the Chesapeake and southern harbors, and were 
afterwards landed at Halifax. The blacks now resident in 
Nova Scotia are descendants chiefly of the first and last im- 
portations — the greater part of the two intermediate having 
been removed. Even some of these last were transported by 
their own wish to Trinidad, while those who remained settled 
down at Preston and Hammonds Plains, or wandered to Wind- 
sor and other places close at hand. 

" But little changed in any respect — ^their persons and their 
property — they have passed through much wretchedness dur- 
ing the last half century. Their natural indolence and love 
of ease being ill suited to our latitude, in which a long and 
severe winter demands unceasing diligence, and more than 
ordinary prudence, in those who depend upon manual labor 



329 APPENDIX. 

for their means of subsistence. Amongst them, however, are 
to be found a few who are prudent, diligent and prosperous. 
These are worthy of the more esteem, in proportion as they 
have met with greater obstacles, and happily have surmounted 
them:'--Ibid. 

Emiioint Men. — Besides many gentlemen of rare talents, 
distinguished in the annals of the province, the following 
N"ova Scotians have won a more extended reputation: Sir 
Edwaed Belchee, the famous Arctic navigator ; Rear- Admiral 
Peovo Wallis, who captured our own vessel the Chesapeake, 
after the death of his superior. Captain Brooke. The words 
of Lawrence, " Don't give up the ship," record the memorable 
achievement of this naval officer. Donald MoKay, who after 
perfecting his education in New York as a ship-builder, 
removed to Boston, Massachusetts, and there has won for that 
city distinguished honors ; Thomas C. Halebueton, the 
author of " Sam Slick," and a great number of other clever 
books ; Samuel Cunaed, the father of the Cunard line ! who 
does not know him ? General Beckwith, not less known in 
the annals of philanthropy ; Gilbeet Stuaet Newton, artist ; 
General Inglis, the defender of Lucknow, and General Wil- 
liam Fenwick Williams, the hero of Kars. The mere meution 
of such names is sufficient — their eulogy suggests itself. 



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